Ohne Titel

Max Ernst used a 19th century print from a botany reference book as the basis of this work. He overpainted and modified the print using gouache, pencil and ink. By painting out some areas and adding others, Ernst’s intervention gave the print an entirely new and enigmatic meaning. Ernst was clearly not interested in the meaning of the print itself, but in its shapes, which he transformed into more surrealistically suggestive plants. For example, the seed pod in the upper right would be perfectly at home in a science fiction movie. Ernst often overpainted existing works; this piece is part of a large series he made between 1920 and 1921.