Life and career
Origins and training
Ernst was born in Brühl. The experience of serving in the First World War helped shape his distrust of familiar cultural certainties and his participation in Cologne Dada.
Places, turning points and artistic change
Moving into Surrealist circles, he used collage, rubbing and scraping to discover images partly through chance. War later forced him to the United States; he returned to France in 1953 with his wife, artist Dorothea Tanning.
Beyond the studio
Books, sculpture and collaborations were central to his career. Frottage and grattage became influential methods for letting a material suggest an image before the artist fully planned it.
Works across a career
Selected examples, not a complete catalogue. Read date ranges and attributions before inferring a career sequence.
Reading the selected works together
The relief-like picture, rubbing portfolio and forest painting show three ways for a surface to suggest an unfamiliar world.
- 01
1924
1924
Two Children Are Threatened by a Nightingale (Deux Enfants sont menacés par un rossignol)
- Material / technique
- Oil with painted wood elements and cut-and-pasted printed paper on wood with wood frame
- Attribution / role
- Collection / source
- The Museum of Modern Art
Artist-wide context
Collage and textures helped him discover unfamiliar creatures and scenes instead of planning every detail first.
- 02
1926; rubbings 1925
1926; rubbings 1925
Natural History
- Material / technique
- Print portfolio after frottages
- Attribution / role
- See the museum attribution
- Collection / source
- MoMA — Max Ernst
The publication date differs from the date of the original rubbings.
- 03
1927–28
1927–28
The Forest
- Material / technique
- Oil on canvas
- Attribution / role
- See the museum attribution
- Collection / source
- Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Scraping and textured marks help form a dense wall of trees.
Materials, marks and colour
Media and surface
Printed fragments, rubbing and scraped paint can supply the starting image.
Marks and structure
Unexpected joins make impossible scenes appear oddly coherent.
Palette and light
Textures can generate forests or creatures before colour gives them atmosphere.