Oil paint on canvas
Tate Modern
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
General Collection
Contemporary Art Society
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/andre-masson-1590" aria-label="More by André Masson" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">André Masson</a>
Ibdes in Aragon
Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1946
abstraction
animals: birds
animals: features
animals: reptiles
architecture
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
cockerel
countries and continents
crocodile
figure
from recognisable sources
head
Ibdes
landscape
places
rocky
Spain
townscapes / man-made features
village
<p>Masson painted this view of Ibdes, a village in Aragon in 1935. He produced a series of paintings of Spanish landscapes from 1934 to 1936. He made them while living in Catalonia, the autonomous region to the north of Aragon. ‘In these completely recognisable landscapes there is always an element of fantasy, either in the sky, or on the ground, or underground’, he wrote. Here, Surrealist double-images are provided by the cocks woven into the landscape and the crocodile formed by the rocks in the background.</p><p><em>Gallery label, June 2021</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
29 January 2004 – 19 April 2004
2004-04-19
13 January 2004 – 29 March 2004
2004-03-29
2004-01-13
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (Madrid, Spain)
2004-01-29
André Masson
Loan-out
15 June 2005 – 14 December 2005
2005-12-14
15 June 2005 – 25 September 2005
2005-09-25
2005-06-15
Dulwich Picture Gallery (London, UK)
15 October 2005 – 14 December 2005
2005-12-14
2005-10-15
Djanogly Art Gallery (Nottingham, UK)
2005-06-15
Graham Sutherland
Loan-out
21 December 2005 – 27 September 2015
2015-09-27
21 December 2005 – 27 September 2015
2015-09-27
2005-12-21
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2005-12-21
Surrealism and Beyond
Collection based display
21 May 2016
21 May 2016
2016-05-21
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2016-05-21
International Surrealism
Collection based display
1 November 2025 – 30 May 2027
2027-05-30
1 November 2025 – 28 February 2026
2026-02-28
2025-11-01
External
1 April 2026 – 31 July 2026
2026-07-31
2026-04-01
External
1 September 2026 – 31 December 2026
2026-12-31
2026-09-01
External
1 February 2027 – 30 May 2027
2027-05-30
2027-02-01
External
2025-11-01
IP: The Future of Statues: The Surrealist International
Loan-out
Ibdes in Aragon
support: 600 × 924 mm
frame: 743 × 1067 × 51 mm
Presented by the <a href="/search?gid=999999975" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Contemporary Art Society</a> 1946
<div class="text">
<p>Masson painted this view of Ibdes, a village in Aragon in 1935. He produced a series of paintings of Spanish landscapes from 1934 to 1936. He made them while living in Catalonia, the autonomous region to the north of Aragon. ‘In these completely recognisable landscapes there is always an element of fantasy, either in the sky, or on the ground, or underground’, he wrote. Here, Surrealist double-images are provided by the cocks woven into the landscape and the crocodile formed by the rocks in the background.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2021-06-14T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>André Masson</b><span> born 1896 [- 1987] </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/masson-ibdes-in-aragon-n05646" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05646</span></a> </span><b>Ibdès de Aragon</b><span> (Ibdes in Aragon) 1935 </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Inscribed 'André Masson | 1935' b.r.</span>
<br/><span>Oil on canvas, 25 5/8 x 36 3/8 (60 x 92.5)</span>
<br/><span>Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1946</span>
<br/><i>Prov:</i><span>
With Galerie Simon, Paris (purchased from the artist); Sir Kenneth Clark, London, 1937; presented by him to the CAS 1944</span>
<br/><i>Exh:</i><span>
</span><i>André Masson: Espagne, 1934-6</i><span>, Galerie Simon, Paris, December 1936 (24); </span><i>Acquisitions of the CAS</i><span>, Tate Gallery, September-October 1946 (40); </span><i>André Masson</i><span>, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, March-May 1965 (30, repr.); </span><i>André Masson</i><span>, Gemeentelijke Casino, Knokke-Le Zoute, July-September 1969 (17, repr.)</span>
<br/><i>Lit:</i><span>
Jean-Paul Clébert (ed.), </span><i>Mythologie d'André Masson</i><span> (Geneva 1971), p.49, repr. pl.90</span>
<br/><i>Repr:</i><span>
M. Leiris and G. Limbour, </span><i>André Masson and his Universe</i><span>
(Geneva-Paris-London 1947), p.65; Mervyn Levy, </span><i>Painting for All</i><span> (London 1958), facing p.33 in colour </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Also known as 'Spanish <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>Landscape</span></a>'. Masson spent 1934 to 1936 in Spain, for the most part at Tossa de Mar, a fishing port in Catalonia, but he also made several expeditions on foot into Andalousia and Aragon. It was in the course of one of these journeys that he visited Ibdes, a village on the left bank of the Mesa, south of Ateca. </span>
<br/></p>
<p><span>Note the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/surrealism" title="Glossary definition for 'Surrealism'"><span>Surrealist</span></a> double-images of the cocks woven into the landscape and the crocodile formed by the rocks in the background. The artist states of his <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> inspired by particular places in Spain: 'They were developed from very closely observed <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> like those made in the 19th century, such as those by Turner, but in these completely recognisable landscapes there is always an element of fantasy, either in the sky, or on the ground, or underground.' (</span><i>Mythologie d'André Masson</i><span>, loc. cit.). </span>
<br/></p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><span>Ronald Alley, </span><i>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</i><span>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.489-90, reproduced p.489</span>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction animals: birds animals: features animals: reptiles architecture cities, towns, villages (non-UK) cockerel countries and continents crocodile figure from recognisable sources head Ibdes landscape places rocky Spain townscapes / man-made features village