The painting develops before my eyes, unfolding its surprises as it progresses. It is this which gives me the sense of complete liberty, and for this reason I am incapable of forming a plan or making a sketch beforehand.

Tanguy had a habit of being completely absorbed by the current painting he was working on. With the outbreak of World War II Sage moved back to her native New York and Tanguy judged unfit for military service followed her. At the end of his military service in 1922 he returned to Paris where he worked various odd jobs.

Raymond Georges Yves Tanguy (January 5 1900 – January 15 1955) known as Yves Tanguy was a French surrealist painter.