The Witch

Painted around the time that Tanning left the United States and returned with her husband, Max Ernst, to Paris, the original work is a mature example of Tanning’s most surreal phase of painting. The mountain range and palette are most likely of her time in Sedona.

Originally titled “The Citadel,” it was a set design for a George Ballanchine Ballet. It depicts the many dancing limbs and tentacles of vaguely veiled female shapes.

Loan from a private collection