Max Ernst was a German artist that was born in Bruhl, Germany. He was the third of nine children of a middle class Catholic family. Ernst studied philosophy, art, history, literature, psychology and psychiatry in the University of Bonn. However, he abandoned his studies at his University to pursue his dream of painting. During the events of World War II, Max Ernst served in the German army. After serving the German army in the war, Ernst was converted to Dada, a nihilistic art movement, which is an influence to his paintings.
According to the description label, Ernst painted this piece in 1923. After moving to Paris, he modified the elements of the picture. Woman, Old man and Flower is an original surrealist identity. As Ernst series of painting developed, this piece became submerged in overtones. In the painting, you can clearly see the vast ocean, the woman and old man. However the flower seems to be missing. It could be that the flower is the woman herself. As stated from the description label that Ernst modified the painting, you can see a part of the modification on the woman’s arms. It is just an outline of her arms instead of a full drawing of it.
This work reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with Modernism because, Ernst worked on over painting strategies. This strategy can be seen on the arms of the woman where it was added over the painting. On the top of the painting, there is a form of a color fade going on in the sky. But on the bottom where the ocean meets the ground, it looks like a solid color of pink, green, and white.
This piece caught my attention because it can be depicted in many ways. I see that the old man is greeting the woman. Or, it could be the old man is showing respect towards a deity since the so called “woman” is half transparent from the top up. Like I said before, I couldn’t find the flower when the title is “Woman, Old man and Flower”. One thought that occurred to me is that the flower could be the woman, or it could be the head piece.
Some questions I would like to ask about the work is, why did Max Ernst chose to subsequently modify the painting? Why is the woman partially transparent especially on her arms and her torso? Also what happened to the old man’s feet?
Nicky, I agree with you that this is an intriguing painting. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before. One thing that your remarks remind me is that the Modernists aren’t trying to pretend that the painting is “the real thing.” Ernst has done a lot of things in this painting that remind us that this is a painting created by an artist. The fact that he continued to rework the piece only reinforces this idea. What is the red thing in the background on the right? I couldn’t tell from your photograph of the painting, and your description doesn’t mention it. Nice job!
JS