Melusine and the Great Transparents

1. The artist, New York; probably sold through Durlacher Brothers Gallery, New York, to Mary (1894–1962) and Earle (1898–1981) Ludgin, Hubbard Woods, IL, by Feb. 8, 1944 [4th Annual Exhibition by the Society for Contemporary American Art checklist; letter from Earle Ludgin to Kurt Seligmann, Feb. 15, 1944, copies in curatorial object file]; Earle Ludgin Estate, 1981; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, Nov. 23, 1981.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

• New York, Durlacher Brothers Gallery, Recent Paintings and Drawings by Kurt Seligmann, Apr. 2-May 1, 1943, no cat.
• Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 4th Annual Exhibition by the Society for Contemporary American Art, Feb. 8-Mar. 26, 1944, no cat.
• Boston, MA, Today's Art Gallery, Art Panorama, Presented by United Modern Art in Boston, Jan. 22-Feb. 24, 1945, cat. 120.
• New York, D'Arcy Galleries, Kurt Seligmann, Apr. 18-May 13, 1961, cat. 22.
• Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Mary and Earle Ludgin Collection, Sept. 11-Oct. 31, 1982, no cat.
• Madrid, Museo Nacional, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Surrealistas en el exilio y los inicios de la Escuela de Nueva York, no cat. no., Dec. 21, 1999–Feb. 27 2000; Strasbourg, Museum of Modern Art, May 12–Aug. 27, 2000.
• Philadelphia Museum of Art, Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100, Nov. 8, 2025–Feb. 16. 2026, no cat. no.
• New York, The National Academy of Design, Surrealism USA, Feb. 2-May 8, 2005, pl 90; Phoenix Art Museum, June 5-Sept. 25, 2005.
• Vancouver Art Gallery, The Colour of My Dreams: The Surrealist Revolution in Art, May 28–Oct. 2, 2011, no cat. no.
• Ithaca, Cornell University, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Surrealism and Magic, Aug. 30–Dec. 21, 2014, no cat. no.; Boca Raton Museum of Art, Jan. 26–Apr. 5, 2015.
• Venice, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Surrealism and Magic: Enchanted Modernity, Apr. 9–Sept. 26, 2022, cat 85; Potsdam, Museum Barberini, Oct. 22, 2022–Jan. 29, 2023.
• Philadelphia Museum of Art, Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100, Nov. 8, 2025–Feb. 16. 2026, no cat. no.

• "The Passing Shows," ARTNews Vol. XLII, no. 5 (Apr. 15-30, 1943), 19 (ill.).
• Dorothy Adlow, ed., Art Panorama, Presented by United Modern Art in Boston, Jan. 22–Feb. 24, 1945: An Illustrated Catalog, exh. cat. (Boston: Institute of Modern Art, 1945), 23, cat. 120, 31 (ill.).
• James Johnson Sweeney, ed., Kurt Seligmann, exh. cat. (New York: D'Arcy Galleries, 1961), 11 (ill.).
• The Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 1981-1982 (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1982), 38 (not ill.).
• Martica Sawin, Surrealism in Exile and the Beginning of the New York School (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995), 217, 311-313 (ill.).
• Stephan E. Hauser, Kurt Seligmann 1900-1962: Leben und Werk (Basel: Schwabbe & Co., 1997), 241 (ill.), 242, 259.
• Josefina Alix and Martica Sawin, eds., Surrealistas en el exilio y los inicios de la Escuela de Nueva York, exh. cat. (Madrid: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, 1999), 144 (color ill.), 145.
• Isabelle Dervaux, ed., Surrealism USA, exh. cat. (Hatje Cantz, 2005), 138, pl. 90 (color ill.), 189, 385.
• Michael Taylor, ed., Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective, exh. cat. (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2009), 104, fig. 79 (color ill.), as Melusiné and the Great Transparents, 1943.
• Dawn Ades, ed., The Colour of My Dreams: The Surrealist Revolution in Art, exh. cat. (Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery, 2011), 123 (color ill.), 329.
• Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Surrealism and Magic, exh. brochure (Ithaca, NY, Herbert F. Johnson Muesum of Art, Cornell University, 2014), n.p., (color ill.).
• Gavin Parkinson, Futures of Surrealism: Myth, Science Fiction and Fantastic Art in France, 1936-1969 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015), 20, 21, fig. 4 (color ill.).

Untitled

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Study for Prometheus

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Self-Portrait

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hans Erni, Hans Schiess, Kurt Seligmann, S.H. Taeuber-Arp, Gerard Vulliamy

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Right Wing of a Triptych with Saints Nicholas and Theodore

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Panel with St. Peter or St. Paul (?)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Panel of a Diptych Announcing the Consulship of Justinian

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Column

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Museum holdings, not sale records. Auction results are only shown when a licensed price source is connected.