War of two roses
1955
Medium
oil on wood panel
Measurements
27.0 × 35.0 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1957
© Max Ernst/ADAGP, Paris. Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
Gallery location
Late 19th & early 20th Century Paintings & Decorative Arts Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
In 1953 Max Ernst left Arizona and settled in the French region of Touraine with his American wife, the Surrealist painter Dorothea Tanning. Living on their farm, Pin-Perdu, the couple enjoyed a period of tranquillity and great productivity. Tanning repeatedly used rose imagery, stating that ‘around 1955 my canvases literally splintered … I broke the mirror, you might say’. The title of this 1955 grattage (rubbing) painting by Ernst is obscure, but perhaps refers to this episode or even to the skein of graduated pinks rippling across the lower section of the image and emerging from beneath a black surface layer.
Artwork Details
Inscription
incised in paint l.c.l.: max ernst
incised in paint l.r.: max ernst 55
Accession Number
3685-4
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Abstract Art
Subjects (specific)
curves (geometric figures) orange (colour) shape (form attribute) texture (artistic concept)
Movements
Modernism Surrealism