MAX ERNST 1/6 – Maximilien was born in Germany in an April day. He studied philosophy, history of art and psychiatry, but it is starting to draw, he discovered his creative vocation. Already at age 22 he exhibited his first paintings in Berlin, knowing Apollinaire and Delaunay. MAX ERNST 2/6 – A strong advocate of the artistic avant-garde, its onset occurs with expressionist paintings, then moved to Dadaism. Assimilating the style of De Chirico, he creates works full of ambiguous and surreal situations. MAX ERNST 3/6 – His first exhibition was in Paris, where he moved at the age of 30 years. Five years later he definitely abandoned the Dada movement, devoting himself to surrealism. His most important technique is the frottage (that is to support the sheet on a rough surface, rubbing over with a pencil, to bring up the design due to friction). MAX ERNST 4/6 – His love affair with Leonora Carrington – a dazzling encounter occurred in the summer of 1937 – is worthy of a novel. She (the daughter of a wealthy family of industrialists), is dreamy girl with huge passion for art. MAX ERNST 5/6 – The occasion of their meeting is to an exhibition of surrealist painters. She said later, “I love the paintings of Max before I fall in love with him.” They were divided by age (he was twenty-six years old), their background, their relationship status (he was married), but this did not prevent them from falling in love. MAX ERNST 6/6 – With World War II, they separate their ways, but the only creature that he loved remains in one of his paintings: “Leonora in the light of the morning” (a lush jungle, with strange plants sinuous all clinging, where Leonora appears between vegetation, with an amazing dress, the foliage of the forest). He died in Paris a day before he turned 85 years old. You can see more on Meeting Benches, looking for: MAX ERNST (1891/1976), GERMAN PAINTER – The Surrealist of the irrational depths
