Max Ernst

Max Ernst was born in Brühl, Germany, on April 2nd 1891. The third of nine children, he showed an early talent for drawing and a fascination with nature, which would remain a recurring theme throughout his work. He studied philosophy, psychology and art history at the University of Bonn, although he never completed a formal art qualification.

Following military service during the First World War, Ernst co-founded the Dada movement in Cologne before moving to Paris in 1922, where he became close friends with Surrealists André Breton and Joan Miró. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s he played a central role in the development of Surrealism, experimenting with frottage, grattage and decalcomania to create his artworks.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Ernst was interned in France as a German national before emigrating to the United States in 1941 with Peggy Guggenheim, whom he later married. Living in the United States, Ernst became an influential figure among younger American artists before his return to France in 1953. In 1954 he was awarded the Grand Prize for Painting at the Venice Biennale.

Alongside his painting and sculpture, Ernst established himself as a printmaker. He produced an extensive body of etchings, lithographs, woodcuts and illustrated books. His prints explored the same dreamlike imagery, invented creatures and imaginative landscapes found in his paintings. For Max Ernst printmaking was an important vehicle for experimentation, allowing him to expand his visual language into a wide range of original editions.

Major retrospectives of Ernst's work have been held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and the Tate Gallery, London.

Max Ernst died in Paris on April 1st 1976.