Abstract Composition

Max Ernst French, born Germany

ca. 1927

Not on view

Ernst is most closely associated with Dada and Surrealism: artistic and literary movements in Europe in the 1910s and 1920s that prized the irrational and the unconscious over order and reason. Among the techniques favored by these artists were ones that welcomed the hand of chance. This work demonstrates Ernst’s invention of grattage, in which he covered a canvas with a layer of pigment and scraped it with a palette knife to reveal imprints of objects placed underneath. Ernst continued to work this canvas, scraping the surface with a painter’s comb to reveal earlier paint layers and stamping new patterns atop the dried paint.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Provenance

Title: Abstract Composition
Artist: Max Ernst (French (born Germany), Brühl 1891–1976 Paris)
Date: ca. 1927
Medium: Oil paint on canvas, copper frame made by artist
Dimensions: 14 × 11 in. (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Bequest of Nanette B. Kelekian, 2020
Object Number: 2021.34.2
Rights and Reproduction: © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

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In the same medium

From the same time and place

Gala Éluard, Max Ernst French, born Germany, Oil on canvas — Gala Éluard
Max Ernst
1924

Saint Peter's Seen From the Pincio, Rome, Henri-Joseph Harpignies French, Pen and black ink, brush, gray and blue-gray washes — Saint Peter's Seen From the Pincio, Rome
Henri-Joseph Harpignies
1856

The Guiding Light, Harold Ancart Belgian, Oil stick and graphite pencil on canvas, artist's frame — The Guiding Light
Harold Ancart
2021

Histoire Naturelle, Max Ernst French, born Germany — Histoire Naturelle
Designer Designed by Max Ernst
Publisher Published by Editions Jeanne Bucher
1926

Violin or Viola Bow, Brazilwood, other materials, French — Violin or Viola Bow
French
late 19th or early 20th century

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