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ERNST Max

image Germany
1891 - 1976
10 lots
image ERNST Max

Max Ernst (1891–1976) was a German-born artist and one of the most influential figures in Surrealism and Dada. Born in Brühl, Germany, he studied philosophy and psychology before turning to art, experiences that later shaped his fascination with dreams, the unconscious, and irrational imagery. After serving in World War I, Ernst became a founding member of the Cologne Dada group. In the 1920s, he moved to Paris and joined the Surrealists, developing innovative techniques such as frottage (rubbing textures onto paper), grattage (scraping paint), and decalcomania. These methods allowed chance and subconscious processes to guide his work, producing strange, dreamlike landscapes and hybrid creatures. Ernst’s art often combines precise detail with fantastical elements, challenging traditional perceptions of reality. His recurring motifs include birds, forests, and mysterious figures, reflecting his personal symbolism. With the outbreak of World War II, Ernst emigrated to the United States, where he influenced the emerging Abstract Expressionist movement. He later returned to Europe, settling in France. Over his long career, he worked in painting, sculpture, collage, and printmaking. Today, Max Ernst is celebrated as a pioneer who expanded the boundaries of artistic imagination and experimental technique.

image Le Père: "Votre baiser me semble adulte, mon enfant, Venu de Dieu, il ira loin. Allez, ma fille, allez en avant et..."
Le Père: "Votre baiser me semble adulte, mon enfant, Venu de Dieu, il ira loin. Allez, ma fille, allez en avant et..."
Painting1929
Sold For
£82,550
September 2025Max Ernst|Le Père: "Votre baiser me semble adulte, mon enfant, Venu de Dieu, il ira loin. Allez, ma fille, allez en avant et..."|1891 - 1976|signed max ernst (on the artist's mount)|collage mounted on paper|sheet: 24.3 by 19.3 cm. 9½ by 7⅝ in.|artist's mount: 30 by 23.3 cm. 11⅞ by 9⅛ in.|Executed in 1929-30.
image "...jusqu'à épuisement complet des beaux danseurs!"
"...jusqu'à épuisement complet des beaux danseurs!"
Painting1929
Sold For
£60,960
September 2025Max Ernst|"...jusqu'à épuisement complet des beaux danseurs!"|1891 - 1976|signed max ernst (lower right)|collage mounted on paper|sheet: 24.7 by 19.4 cm. 9¾ by 7⅜ in.|artist's mount: 29.8 by 24.4 cm. 11¾ by 9⅝ in.|Executed in 1929-30.
image Loplop présente
Loplop présente
SculptureOil1929
Sold For
£165,100
September 2025Max Ernst|Loplop présente|1891 - 1976|signed max ernst and numbered 5/6 (lower right)|oil and collage on plaster|99.2 by 120.6 cm. 39⅛ by 47½ in.|Executed in 1929-68. This work is number 5 from an edition of 7.
image Sans titre (L'oiseau qui s'assoit et ne chante pas)
Sans titre (L'oiseau qui s'assoit et ne chante pas)
UncategorizedOil1926
Sold For
$630,000
November 2024MAX ERNST (1891-1976)| Sans titre (L'oiseau qui s'assoit et ne chante pas) | signed twice 'max ernst' (lower right)| oil, sand and grattage on canvas| 26 5⁄8 x 21 ¼ in. (68.3 x 54 cm.)| Painted in 1926|
image Paysage avec lac et chimères
Paysage avec lac et chimères
PaintingOil1940
Sold For
$2,460,000
November 2022MAX ERNST (1891-1976)| Paysage avec lac et chimères | signed ‘Max Ernst’ (lower right)| oil on canvas| 20 x 26 in. (50.8 x 66 cm.)| Painted circa 1940|
image Le désert
Le désert
PaintingOil1929
Sold For
£842,500
June 2014Max Ernst (1891 - 1976) | Le désert | oil on canvas | 60 by 81cm. | 23 5/8 by 31 7/8 in. | Painted during an important period of experimentation for Ernst, Le désert is a compelling and powerful testament to his technical innovation. Ernst had always looked for new approaches to applying pigment that broke with traditional modes of representation, and his discovery of frottage in 1925 would prove a pivotal moment in his career. On holiday in Pornic, France at the time, Ernst described the moment in some detail in his Biographical Notes, ‘a rainy day in a seaside inn found me gazing at the floor boards of my room. My gaze became excited, then obsessed by the sight of the boards, where a thousand rubbings had deepened the groves [sic]. I decided then to investigate the meaning of this obsession and, to help my meditative and hallucinatory faculties, I made a series of drawings by placing on the boards sheets of paper, which I rubbed with black lead. I gazed at the drawings and, surprisingly, a hallucinatory succession of contradictory images rose before my eyes… A series of suggestions and transmutations offered themselves spontaneously’ (M. Ernst, Biographical Notes, 1925, reproduced in W. Spies, Max Ernst. Life and Work, Cologne, 2005, p. 100). This rich, new source of imagery was rapidly refined by Ernst, initially in a series of works on paper, and then, in a further development into the associated technique of grattage in which he covered canvases with a layer of paint before placing them over an object and scraping off the pigment to reveal the patterned surface beneath. Among the first manifestations of this technique were Ernst’s coquillages (fig. 1), in which he created still lifes and landscapes – similar to the present work - that combined large planes of abstract colour with the seemingly organic structures of flowers or shells created through grattage. As Ernst was immediately aware, the spontaneous suggestiveness of these techniques responded directly to Surrealist theory, yet these works were never entirely ‘automated’ as their composition was always subject to conscious decision on the part of the artist. As Werner Spies writes, ‘The textures of the objects Ernst placed under the canvas and lent a voice by means of the grattage technique suggested a stream of consciousness of the kind activated by ‘automatic writing’. Yet the flow of lines and shapes always remained subordinate to a definite pictorial conception, whether of the human figure, of birds, ‘hordes’ and advancing barbarians or forests and landscapes. This approach to painting arose from a dialectic between activity and passivity that began to play an increasingly central role in the artist’s work at this time’ (W. Spies, Max Ernst. A Retrospective, (exhibition catalogue), Tate Gallery, London, 1991, p. 148). In Le désert, Ernst conjures a bare and expansive landscape in which strange, almost skeletal monoliths rise from the earth like vestiges of an ancient civilisation. Spies has described the canvases of this period as containing a ‘prescience of imminent disaster’ (W. Spies, ibid., p. 148) and in Le désert Ernst captures this sense of the uncanny. The quasi-archaeological fragments in the foreground pre-empt his later visions of ruined cities, whilst the small orb which casts its light over the vivid red sand and swathes of blue sky is a motif that reappears in many of Ernst’s looming, primordial forests (fig. 2). A masterful example of Ernst’s contribution to the Surrealist œuvre, the absorbing power of this work is also in part due to the way it remains grounded in a sense of reality through his use of grattage. As Karin von Maur writes, ‘Ultimately derived from nature itself, this procedure gave rise to landscape visions which, thanks to their partial imitation of the growth patterns and textures of plants, evoked nature far more intensely than the traditional techniques of realism’ (K. von Maur in W. Spies, ibid., p. 343).
image L'homme et la femme
L'homme et la femme
PaintingOil1929
Sold For
$173,000
November 2013Max Ernst (1891-1976) | L'homme et la femme | signed 'max ernst' (lower right) | oil on canvas | 10¾ x 8 7/8 in. (27.2 x 22.4 cm.) | Painted in 1929 |
image GULFSTREAM
GULFSTREAM
PaintingOil1926
Sold For
£174,500
February 2008Max Ernst (1891-1976) | GULFSTREAM | oil on canvasboard | 55 by 46cm., 21 5/8 by 18 1/8 in. | The present work is part of the La Mer series that Ernst executed around the mid-1920s. During the summer of 1925 Ernst worked by the sea at Pornic in Brittany, and it was probably during this trip that inspired the sea imagery. This was a particularly eventful year for the artist: he signed his first commercial contract, which provided him the financial freedom to devote his time entirely to painting and experimentation; he participated in the first Surrealist group exhibition at the Galerie Pierre, and he developed the frottage technique, one of the most consequential inventions of career. Frottage consisted of placing paper over objects such as leaves or uneven surfaces, particularly those with wood graining, and rubbing the sheet over those forms and textures. This technique resulted in fantastical images that ignited the artist's imagination, and involved the element of chance, the key concept in Surrealist thought. This scraping technique reveals the image rather than painting it onto canvas, resulting in random, chance imagery. In this way, Max Ernst was the first to invent a way of applying automatism, previously practiced by the Surrealists in a literary medium, to painting.Adapting this practice to the medium of oil painting, Ernst would cover the canvas with layers of paint and place it over an uneven surface or an object. He would then scrape the pigment off the surface, and complex patterns would emerge. In the present work, he probably incised the wet oil surface with a comb, creating elegant, undulating lines that evoke the effect of currents and waves on the water surface. Discussing this grattage technique, Werner Spies wrote: 'Max Ernst laid his canvas over various objects with raised textures - pieces of wood and string, grates, textured glass panes - and, drawing the paint over them with a palette knife, brought forth the most vivid effects. In the course of the following years - years which William Rubin has called the 'heroic epoch of Surrealist painting' - this technique, known as grattage, led to astonishingly innovative imagery. The pictures became more abstract in effect, their formats larger. The dramatic force of these paintings, the richness of their scintillating colour, made them high points of imaginative Surrealist art in the late 1920s' (W. Spies, Max Ernst. A Retrospective (exhibition catalogue), Tate Gallery, London, 1991, p. 148).
image LES DEUX OISEAUX
LES DEUX OISEAUX
PaintingOil1926
Sold For
£192,500
February 2008Max Ernst (1891-1976) | LES DEUX OISEAUX | oil, plaster and sand on paper laid down on panel | 20 by 25.2cm., 7 7/8 by 9 7/8 in. | Condition: The panel is sound and there appear to be no signs of retouching visible under UV light. This work is in good original condition. Colours: An overall fairly accurate representation of the original."In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
image
PaintingOil1940
Sold For
£990,850
February 2004Max Ernst (1891-1976) La fuite signed ´max ernst´ (lower right) oil on canvas 36¼ x 28¾ in. (92 x 73 cm.) Painted in 1940

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