Yves Tanguy, "Birds, Fire, Glass"

Yves Tanguy, "Through Birds, Through Fire But Not Through Glass," 1943; © Estate of Yves Tangy / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Minneapolis Institute of Art.

This impressive Tanguy painting, full of life, depth, resonance and power, has been turned conspicuously green in the altered version below, thus changing the overall appearance of the work and ultimately reducing its impact. Note the clean whites in the original, hints of white clouds and blue sky, with various primary colors imposed on a naturalistically hued landscape. It's helpful to keep in mind that abstractions which allude to real-world objects or settings often retain many aspects of the natural scenes they're depicting, despite their otherwise non-realistic, personalized depictions of reality. And images that look as though a colored filter has been applied — in this case, a yellow overlay — are usually revised copies that aren't necessarily faithful to the authentic work.

Note: The museum listing prohibits downloads, which might be one reason why altered versions appear online instead. Their photo is shown here solely for the purposes of comparison and education.

Altered version of a painting by Yves Tanguy.