Max Ernst

The Redfern Gallery, London

Galleria Internazionale, Milan

Galerie des Quatres Mouvements, Paris

Acquired by the present owner in 1973

Milan, Galleria Blu, Max Ernst, 'un monde perdu', 2000, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Saint-Louis, Espace d'Art Contemporain Fernet-Branca, Chassé-Croisé Dada-Surréaliste 1916-1969, 2012, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Georges Sebbag, Memorabilia: Constellations inaperçues, Dada & Surréalisme, 1916-1970, Paris, 2010, illustrated in colour p. 253 (as dating from 1948)

Painted in 1951, Personnages dans un bois belongs to a highly important period in Ernst’s career, when his painting reached a crescendo of Surrealist fantasy, with dark forests and fantastical creatures dominating his compositions. This phase of Ernst’s œuvre was dominated by the techniques of grattage, beautifully explored in the present work, as well as the more recently devised decalcomania, invented by Oscar Domínguez in 1935. The use of both techniques enabled Ernst to achieve rich patterns reminiscent of corals, rocks, forests and imaginary creatures, which dominated his art at the time. In the present work, the grattage technique – scraping the paint off the surface – has resulted in a web-like background denoted as wood by the title of the painting, with black brush-strokes delineating several highly abstract figures seen against this otherworldly setting.