We typically associate romance with images of sunsets on the beach and candlelit dinners. Not alien landscapes.
But in 1936, it was a mysterious landscape painting that left American artist Kay Sage lovestruck. Created by French surrealist Yves Tanguy, the canvas was filled with odd, organic shapes, rendered with striking intricacy and uncanny realism. Sage recalled later that she "could not tear herself away."
And in four years, Sage (1898-1963) and Tanguy (1900-1955) would be married, living out the Surrealist belief that there is no such thing as coincidence: That mysterious painting's title was "I Await You."
There are plenty of famous art couples: Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg; Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock; Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, to name a few. But this pair of quieter Surrealists flew under the radar. Unlike Dali or Miró, neither became a household name. And, according to Sage, they "dislike[d] terribly the idea of being a team." In 1954, they agreed to a joint exhibition at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Conn., on the condition that their paintings be hung in separate galleries.