Max Ernst
Max Ernst was born in the town of Brühl, south of Cologne, on the 2nd of April 1891. He grew up as the third child among nine siblings in a middle-class Catholic family. His father Philipp worked as a teacher for the deaf and served as an amateur painter himself. This strict disciplinarian inspired Max to defy authority while his own interest in sketching nature encouraged him to take up painting. In 1909, Max enrolled at the University of Bonn to study philosophy, art history, literature, psychology, and psychiatry. He visited asylums during this time and became fascinated with artwork created by mentally ill patients. That same year he began producing sketches in the garden of the Brühl castle alongside portraits of his sister and himself.
World War I interrupted Ernst's studies when he completed them in the summer of 1914. He was drafted into service and fought on both the Western Front and the Eastern Front for four years. The experience left him deeply shocked and critical of modern society. In his autobiography he wrote that Max Ernst died on the first of August 1914. He stated that he was resurrected on the eleventh of November 1918. During a brief period on the Western Front he was assigned to chart maps which allowed him to continue painting. Several German Expressionist painters died in action during the war including August Macke and Franz Marc.
Ernst returned to Cologne after being demobilized in 1918. He soon married art history student Luise Straus whom he had met in 1914. In 1919 he visited Paul Klee in Munich and studied paintings by Giorgio de Chirico. Inspired by mail-order catalogs and teaching manuals he produced his first collages notably Fiat modes. This portfolio of lithographs became a technique that later dominated his artistic pursuits. That same year he founded the Cologne Dada group with social activist Johannes Theodor Baargeld and several colleagues. They published various short-lived magazines such as Der Strom and die Schammade while organizing Dada exhibitions between 1919 and 1920.
In 1925 Ernst invented a graphic art technique called frottage using pencil rubbings of objects as source images. He also created the grattage technique where paint is scraped across canvas to reveal imprints from objects placed beneath it. He used this method in his famous painting Forest and Dove which hangs at the Tate Modern today. With help from Joan Miró he developed grattage further by troweling pigment directly from his canvases. He explored decalcomania which involves pressing paint between two surfaces to create new textures. His fascination with birds led him to create an alter ego named Loplop who appeared frequently in his work.
The outbreak of World War II caused Ernst to be interned as an undesirable foreigner in Camp des Milles near Aix-en-Provence in September 1939. Fellow surrealist Hans Bellmer was held there alongside him. Thanks to intercession by Paul Éluard and journalist Varian Fry he was released a few weeks later. Soon after the German occupation of France he was arrested again by the Gestapo but managed to escape to America. He fled with the help of Fry and Peggy Guggenheim arriving in the United States in 1941. They were married at the end of that year while living among other artists like Marcel Duchamp and Marc Chagall in New York City.
In October 1946 Ernst married American surrealist painter Dorothea Tanning in a double ceremony with Man Ray and Juliet P. Browner in Beverly Hills. The couple made their home in Sedona Arizona from 1946 until 1953 where high desert landscapes inspired them. Although Sedona was remote with fewer than 400 ranchers and orchard workers their presence helped begin what would become an American artists' colony. Ernst built a small cottage on Brewer Road with his own hands and hosted intellectuals including Henri Cartier-Bresson and Yves Tanguy. As a result of publicity surrounding his book Beyond Painting he began to achieve financial success during this era.
The Max Ernst Museum opened in 2005 in his hometown Brühl Germany inside a late-classicist building from 1844 integrated with a modern glass pavilion. The collection spans 70 years of his career including paintings drawings frottages collages nearly all lithographic works over 70 bronze sculptures and more than 700 documents. The core dates back to 1969 when the artist donated works to the City of Brühl. The Menil Collection in Houston houses well over 100 pieces by Max Ernst including notable paintings like In Praise of Freedom and Loplop Presents Loplop. A retrospective of 104 works spanning 1920 to 1968 toured Europe from 1970 to 1972 before visiting institutions in the United States.
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Common questions
When and where was Max Ernst born?
Max Ernst was born in the town of Brühl, south of Cologne, on the 2nd of April 1891. He grew up as the third child among nine siblings in a middle-class Catholic family.
What happened to Max Ernst during World War I?
Max Ernst fought on both the Western Front and the Eastern Front for four years starting from 1914. The experience left him deeply shocked and critical of modern society while he also charted maps which allowed him to continue painting.
How did Max Ernst develop his collage technique?
Max Ernst produced his first collages notably Fiat modes inspired by mail-order catalogs and teaching manuals in 1919. This portfolio of lithographs became a technique that later dominated his artistic pursuits.
Why did Max Ernst move to America in 1941?
Max Ernst fled to America after being arrested again by the Gestapo following the German occupation of France. He arrived in the United States with help from Varian Fry and Peggy Guggenheim in 1941.
Where did Max Ernst live between 1946 and 1953?
The couple made their home in Sedona Arizona from 1946 until 1953 where high desert landscapes inspired them. Ernst built a small cottage on Brewer Road with his own hands and hosted intellectuals including Henri Cartier-Bresson and Yves Tanguy.