The Entire City
La ville entière, 1935/36 Oil on canvas, 60 × 81 cm Kunsthaus Zurich
La ville entière, 1935/36 Oil on canvas, 60 × 81 cm Kunsthaus Zurich
The Phases of the Night
signed, dated and titled 'Max Ernst 46 the phases of the night' (lower right)
oil on canvas
35 7/8 x 63 7/8 in. (91.3 x 162.4 cm.)
Painted in Sedona, 1946
signed, dated and titled 'Max Ernst 46 the phases of the night' (lower right)
oil on canvas
35 7/8 x 63 7/8 in. (91.3 x 162.4 cm.)
Painted in Sedona, 1946
Aquis submersus, 1919
54.0 x 43.8 cm
Oil on canvas
The world has congealed into a lifeless backdrop. A limbless figure stands in front of a swimming pool; another dives ramrod straight into the water. The night sky appears above the scene like a stage set – an impression strengthened by the hard shadows cast by the prop-like buildings, as well as by the presence of the clock where the moon should be. The act of disappearing from this dreariness allegorises what the Surrealist Max Ernst saw as a rejection of the rational world. In his art he was intensely concerned with the unconscious part of the psyche, symbolised by water.
Red Forest (1970)
Day and Night (1941)