MAX ERNST

Biography

Max Ernst (1891-1976) was born on April 2, 1891, in Brühl, near Cologne. He would become one of the most innovative and experimental artists of the 20th century, a pioneering figure in both Dada and Surrealism who revolutionized artistic techniques through frottage, grattage, and groundbreaking collage novels.

Ernst began studying classical philology but then became interested in art and literature through the 1912 Cologne Sonderbund Exhibit and his friendship with August Macke, whom he met in 1910-11. He became acquainted with the Blaue Reiter, Apollinaire, Delaunay, Georges Grosz, and Wieland Herzfelde, as well as Hans Arp.

He fought in World War I in France and Poland, and recovered from clinical death—an experience which deepened his decision to take up art. In 1918, he married the art historian Luise Straus. The next year, he visited Paul Klee and created his first paintings, block prints and collages, experimenting with mixed media.

Along with J. T. Baargeld and Hans Arp, he founded the Cologne Dada group. In 1921, he was invited by André Breton to Paris, where he befriended Tristan Tzara and Sophie Taeuber.

Max Ernst & Dorothea Tanning

Max Ernst & Dorothea Tanning, 1948
Photo by Robert Bruce Inverarity
© Smithsonian Institution

Max Ernst met the artist Dorothea Tanning in 1942, and they took lifetime vows to each other in 1946. They moved to Sedona, Arizona, where they created a home and studio that became legendary in the art world. Their partnership was one of mutual artistic respect and collaboration, lasting until Ernst's death in 1976.

Tanning herself was a remarkable Surrealist painter, and their relationship represented one of the great artistic partnerships of the 20th century. Unlike Ernst's previous marriages, this union was built on shared creative vision and deep mutual understanding.

Paris Years & Surrealism

A year after moving to Paris in 1922, Ernst illustrated the collage-novel Les Malheurs des immortels, to which Paul Éluard provided the texts. He illustrated further books of poetry by Éluard (1923) and created 17 wall murals for Éluard's house in Eaubonne (rediscovered in the 1960s and exhibited).

Max Ernst, Portrait

In 1927, he married Marie-Berthe Aurenche. Two years later, he created another collage-novel, La Femme à 100 Têtes (The Woman with 100 Heads). His first exhibit in New York took place in 1931. He spent time in Maloja with Alberto Giacometti (1934) and created the collage-novel Une Semaine de Bonté (A Week of Kindness, 1934), one of the masterpieces of Surrealist literature.

He did the set decoration for Alfred Jarry's Ubu Enchaîné (1937). Meanwhile, his work was being confiscated in Nazi Germany as "degenerate art."

Revolutionary Techniques

In 1926, he created sets for Sergei Diaghilev's Russian Ballet. He collaborated with Joan Miró, and then with Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí on the film l'Age d'Or (1930).

War, Exile & America

Ernst joined Leonora Carrington and moved to southern France, Saint-Martin d'Ardèche, in 1938. In 1939, he was sent to a concentration camp but was freed by Paul Éluard's appeal. The very next year, he was again sent to a concentration camp in Aix-en-Provence, from which he attempted to escape twice.

He emigrated to the USA in 1941, settled in New York, and married the art collector Peggy Guggenheim. He began exhibiting in 1942 and met with other émigrés such as David Hare, André Breton, and Marcel Duchamp. He began working on new plastic art in 1944.

Max Ernst, The Antipope, Detail

Ernst met the artist Dorothea Tanning in 1942. They took lifetime vows to each other in 1946 and moved to Sedona, Arizona, where they created an artistic sanctuary in the desert. He wrote the treatise Beyond Painting (1948) and only returned to Europe on a visit in 1949-50.

Return to Europe & Final Years

A retrospective of his works was held on his 60th birthday in Brühl (though he rejected the honorary citizenship later offered to him). He was a guest lecturer in Hawaii. In 1953, he returned to Paris but was excluded from the Surrealist circle by André Breton.

At the 27th Biennial in Venice (1954), he received the first prize, which helped him get financially back on his feet. He settled in Touraine in 1955 and became a French citizen in 1958.

A retrospective was held at the Kunsthaus in Zurich. In 1964, his graphic series Maximiliana was printed, an important work. He designed stage sets and a fountain for the city of Amboise (1968).

In 1975, a major retrospective was held at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the Galeries Nationales du Grand-Palais in Paris published a complete catalogue of his works, the Spies/Leppien Catalogue. A book in two volumes on his graphic work from 1906-1925 was published.

Max Ernst died on April 1, 1976, in Paris. He is interred at the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, alongside other giants of art and literature. His legacy as one of the most innovative and experimental artists of the 20th century remains secure.

Artistic Legacy & Influence

Ernst's contributions to modern art were revolutionary. He didn't just create images—he invented entirely new ways of making them. Frottage, grattage, and décalcomanie became standard techniques in Surrealist practice, while his collage novels opened entirely new possibilities for visual narrative.

His work influenced generations of artists, from Abstract Expressionists who adopted his experimental techniques to contemporary artists who continue to explore the possibilities of collage and assemblage. His collage novels anticipated graphic novels and contemporary visual storytelling.

Ernst lived through both World Wars, suffered persecution by the Nazis, endured concentration camps, and emerged as one of the most important artists of his century. His work remains a testament to creativity's power to transform trauma and chaos into beauty and meaning.