Max ERNST (1891-1976) Red microbe Gouache on... Lot 47

Max ERNST (1891-1976) Red microbe Gouache on paper Signed in the margin 3.7 x 3.7 cm the subject; 28 x 28.6 cm the sheet Our gouache belongs to a series of small images, actually representing vast landscapes, that Ernst began creating while living in Sedona, Arizona, in 1946. These "microbes", as the artist called them, amazingly capture the eerie calm of the arid southwestern landscape that was home to Ernst and his wife, the artist Dorothea Tanning, at the time. From a practical point of view, working on this scale made it easier for Ernst to get his work ready for exhibition. According to his friend and fellow artist Roland Penrose, "he decided to paint small works that could be easily carried in a suitcase". A selection of these microscopic drawings was reproduced (in actual size) in Max Ernst's collection of poems "Sept Microbes vus à travers un tempérament" published in Paris in 1953, text interspersed among the images. (Les Editions Cerce des Arts) (Source: MOMA New-York)