Max Ernst

The all-enveloping and stifling nature of this forest, in which the only sign of life is a solitary bird trapped in a cage, evokes a feeling of simultaneous enchantment and fear. The tangled trees seem petrified and loom over the bird in wild and irrepressible growth. Like many artists of his time, Ernst worked in many media. He produced an enormous collection of collages and introduced a technique called frottage. Similar to brass-rubbing, this involved laying a sheet of paper on a rough surface and drawing on the paper so as to reveal the relief of the object beneath. Because the artist had no control over the picture he was creating, frottage was also seen as a method of gaining access to the
subconscious. The ‘chance’ element of this technique, together with the hallucinatory quality of the image it has created, makes the picture a fine example of Surrealist preoccupations. 

The Forest
Oil On Canvas, 100 x 81,5 cm

Marx Ernst, 1927