Oil Paint
Oil paint is a slow-drying art medium made with pigment and a drying-oil binder that allows extended working time, smooth blending, and layered application.
Painter
Max Ernst
Max Ernst was a German-born painter associated with Dada and Surrealism, known for uncanny scenes, collage, frottage, and scraped paint textures.
Max Ernst quick facts
Ernst's early Dada collages led to Surrealist methods using chance, including frottage on paper and grattage through wet paint on canvas.
| Born | 1891 · Brühl, German Empire (now Germany) |
|---|---|
| Died | 1976 · Paris, France |
| Nationality | German-born; later French and American |
| Movements | Dada · Surrealism |
| Paint types | Oil Paint · Gouache Paint |
| Painting surfaces | Canvas · Paper |
| Painting methods | Collage, grattage (scraping layered paint over textured objects), decalcomania, and frottage drawings |
| Common subjects | Birdlike creatures, dream landscapes, hybrid figures, forests, machines, and imaginary worlds |
| Notable works | The Elephant Celebes · Woman, Old Man, and Flower · Birds above the Forest · Napoleon in the Wilderness |
| Other materials | Graphite, magazine cutouts, and pasted illustrations in works on paper |
Sources: MoMA: Max Ernst and his techniques, The Met: Abstract Composition, oil on canvas, MoMA: Napoleon in the Wilderness, decalcomania in oil, Centre Pompidou: La Chanson de la chair, gouache collage on paper, Max Ernst Museum: frottage and grattage.
Paint types used
Ernst built grattage and decalcomania effects in oil paint, and combined gouache with graphite and pasted magazine fragments in Dada works.
Gouache Paint
Gouache paint is an opaque, water-based art medium made with pigment and a water-soluble binder, drying to a matte finish that can be reactivated with water.
Surface types used
Canvas supported Ernst's scraped or transferred oil layers; paper was used for gouache collages, rubbings, and occasional oil studies.
Canvas
Canvas is a woven fabric support, commonly cotton or linen, used for painting and sold either raw or prepared with a compatible ground layer.
Paper
Paper is an absorbent sheet material made from pressed fibers, with weight, sizing, and surface texture controlling moisture tolerance and paint behavior.
Painters similar to Max Ernst
Picabia likewise crossed painting and Dada experimentation, while Magritte used more precise illusionism for unsettling Surrealist scenes.
Francis Picabia
Francis Picabia was a French avant-garde painter associated with Dada, known for machine imagery, shifting styles, abstract paintings, and playful provocations.
René Magritte
René Magritte was a Belgian Surrealist painter known for placing familiar objects in puzzling scenes that challenge how images represent reality.