Max Ernst
A relentless inventor of visual techniques who channeled the chaos of the 20th century into haunting, dreamlike paintings and sculptures.
1891–1976 (age 85)·German artist·Birthday: April 2·The Lost Generation
Biography
Max Ernst approached art not as a craftsman but as an archaeologist of the unconscious, digging for images buried in the modern psyche. A self-taught German veteran of the First World War, he reacted to the era's absurd violence by co-founding Cologne's Dada group, creating provocative collages from encyclopedia prints. His true breakthrough came with Surrealism, where he devised methods to bypass conscious control. He invented 'frottage,' making pencil rubbings of wood grain to summon phantom landscapes, and 'grattage,' scraping paint to reveal hidden forms. These techniques yielded his famous forest scenes and eerie bird-like alter ego, Loplop. Fleeing the Nazis, he escaped to America with the help of Peggy Guggenheim, whom he briefly married. His later work in France embraced a more lyrical, cosmic abstraction, but always retained that essential sense of mystery, forged from a lifetime of artistic and personal survival.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Max was born in 1891, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Max Was Born
The biggest hits of 1891
Max's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1891Born
President: Benjamin Harrison
1896Started school
First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
President: Grover Cleveland
1904Became a teenager
New York City opens its first subway line
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1907Could drive
Financial panic grips Wall Street
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1909Could vote
Robert Peary claims to reach the North Pole
President: William Howard Taft
1912Turned 21
Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage
President: William Howard Taft
1921Turned 30
First commercial radio broadcasts
President: Warren G. Harding"My Man" — Fanny Brice
1931Turned 40
The Empire State Building opens as the world's tallest
Gas: $0.17/galPresident: Herbert Hoover"Minnie the Moocher" — Cab CallowayBest Picture: Cimarron
1941Turned 50
Pearl Harbor attack brings the US into WWII
Gas: $0.19/galHome: $3,060Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Chattanooga Choo Choo" — Glenn MillerBest Picture: How Green Was My Valley
1951Turned 60
First color TV broadcast in the US
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Too Young" — Nat King ColeBest Picture: An American in Paris
1961Turned 70
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,500Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Tossin' and Turnin'" — Bobby LewisBest Picture: West Side Story
1971Turned 80
Voting age lowered to 18 in the US
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $18,100Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Joy to the World" — Three Dog NightBest Picture: The French Connection
1976Died at 85
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
Key Achievements
- Invented the techniques of frottage (pencil rubbings) and grattage (paint scraping) to generate surreal, automatic imagery.
- Created monumental painting cycles like 'Europe After the Rain II,' a powerful allegory of a continent in ruins.
- Was a foundational figure in both the Dada movement in Cologne and the Parisian Surrealist group.
- Produced innovative sculptural work, including 'The King Playing with the Queen,' a stone chess set.
Did You Know?
He married art historian and fellow Surrealist Dorothea Tanning in a double wedding with photographer Man Ray and dancer Juliet Browner.
Ernst had no formal artistic training, having studied philosophy and psychiatry at university.
His son, Jimmy Ernst, became a notable abstract expressionist painter in New York.
He was interned in France as an 'undesirable foreigner' at the outbreak of World War II before his escape to the U.S.
“The role of the painter is to project that which sees itself in him.”
