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 Dada collages led to Surrealist methods using chance, including frottage on paper and grattage, which scrapes through wet paint on canvas.

Max Ernst quick facts
Full name	Maximilian Maria Ernst
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
Other media	Drawing · collage · printmaking · sculpture
Other materials	Magazine cutouts · pasted illustrations
Painting surfaces	Canvas · Paper
Painting methods	Oil grattage with scraping and combing; decalcomania transfers; gouache collage and graphite frottage on paper
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

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 by Max Ernst

Ernst developed grattage and decalcomania in oil on canvas, while gouache appears in early Dada collages on paper, linking medium to distinct procedures.

Oil paint

In Birds above the Forest (1929), also oil on canvas, he pulled a toothed plasterer's comb through pigment before adding and removing further layers. Napoleon in the Wilderness (1941) uses decalcomania, pressing and lifting a surface against wet paint to create unpredictable textures.
Gouache paint

La Chanson de la chair (1920) combines gouache and graphite with cut-and-pasted magazine illustrations on paper. The Centre Pompidou classifies it as a drawing and collage; the opaque paint contributes to the altered imagery, while the graphite and magazine fragments remain separate materials. It should not be mistaken for an oil painting on canvas.

Sources: The Met: Abstract Composition, oil and grattage, MoMA: Birds above the Forest, scraped oil paint, MoMA: Napoleon in the Wilderness, oil and decalcomania, and Centre Pompidou: La Chanson de la chair, gouache and collage.

Painting surfaces used by Max Ernst

Documented works by Max Ernst use Canvas, Paper, with examples below clarifying when a material is a painted ground, backing, or constructed element.

Canvas

Ernst’s paintings, including Abstract Composition and Birds above the Forest, are documented on canvas. He used the flexible support for layered experiments such as grattage and decalcomania, in which textures are revealed or transferred through contact with wet paint. The support remains part of a deliberately manipulated surface.
Paper

Ernst also worked on paper, including La Chanson de la chair (1920), a gouache-and-graphite collage with cut magazine illustrations. Paper carries both the painted marks and pasted fragments; his works on paper extend his experiments with chance and found imagery beyond the canvas.