Provenance

Valentine Hugo (1887-1968), Paris, by 1936 [1]; sold to Louise and Walter C. Arensberg, Los Angeles, October 1937 [2]; gift to PMA, 1950. 1. Written on old stretcher: "Collection Valentine Hugo / 2 rue de Sontag Paris" (see photo in curatorial file). Hugo, an artist and member of the Surrealist movement herself, is listed as the owner in the 1936/1937 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, "Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism"; three of her works appeared in the exhibition. A friend of Tanguy, she probably acquired the painting directly from him. 2. Purchased in 1937 via the Museum of Modern Art, New York, from the exhibition cited above, for $155.00, as per letter from MoMA, November 12, 1951 to Walter Arensberg (original in Arensberg Archives).