A Moment of Calm

1939

Max Ernst

Artist, German, 1891 - 1976

Blades of forest, pine, and sage green intermixed with slivers of cobalt and sky blue, crimson red, and rose pink create a band of abstracted tree-like forms across this horizontal painting. The blues, red, and pink are concentrated on a structure, presumably a tree, at the front center. To our left of center, geometric shapes like circles, triangles, and rectangles create the impression of a beaked bird, with each shape being fractured into bands of emerald green, royal blue, brick red, and butter yellow. Closer examination finds other birds nearly obscured within the dark, accordion-like patterns of the leaves, including a flock of red-eyed, black, razor-like birds to our left and another creature with a bird-like head and humanoid body to our right. Across the top third of the composition, the sky is pale blue to our left and brightens to shell pink and then light yellow around a disk-like form, to our right. A couple geometric, stylized shapes read as clouds near the upper left corner. Next to a tiny, white line drawing of two abstracted, animal-like forms in the lower right corner, the artist signed his name, “max ernst,” in white paint and the date, “1939” in red.
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On View

East Building Upper Level, Gallery 415-B

Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist [1891-1976]; by inheritance to his wife, Dorothea Tanning Ernst; gift 1982 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1961

  • Max Ernst, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago, 1961, no. 84, repro.

  • Max Ernst, Tate Gallery, London, 1961, no. 134, repro.

1985

  • Landscapes by Max Ernst, Galerie Beyeler, Basel, 1985.

1998

  • Max Ernst: sculptures, maisons, paysages, Galerie Sud, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, 1998, no. 62, repro.

1999

  • Max Ernst: Die Retrospektive, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Haus der Kunst, Munich, 1999, no. 123, repro.

2005

  • Max Ernst: A Retrospective, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2005, no. 129, repro.

2006

  • Rendez-vous des amis, Max Ernst Museum, Brühl, 2006-2007, no catalogue.

2008

  • Max Ernst. Dream and Revolution, Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark, 2008-2009, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2009

  • Dada e Surrealismo riscoperti, Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, 2009-2010, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2011

  • Surrealism in Paris, Fondation Beyeler, Basel; Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, 2011-2012, unnumbered catalogue (shown only in Basel).

2013

  • Max Ernst Retrospective, Albertina, Vienna; Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 2013, no. 146, repro.

Bibliography

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 149, repro.

1989

  • Strick, Jeremy. Twentieth Century Painting and Sculpture: Selections for the Tenth Anniversary of the East Building. Washington, D.C., 1989: repro. 56, 57.

1991

  • Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 12-13, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: max ernst / 1939 (added c. 1953)

Wikidata ID

Q20193225

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