Max Ernst from the painter to the sculptor

Born in 1891 in Brühl, between Cologne and Bonn in the Rhineland, Max Ernst is undoubtedly the most important German artist of the twentieth century, great initiator of Dadaism and Surrealism.

Like many great painters, Max Ernst was fascinated by the sculpture, probably related to his friendship with Jean Arp, with whom he founded the Dada movement in Cologne in 1920.

However, except for some occasional achievements, it is only at the age of forty-three, under the influence of Alberto Giacometti, that he invested heavily in sculpture. He created an original writing characterised by a search for forms impregnated by multiple influences of his pictorial research.

The main focuses of his sculptural research were following three topics: African masks, birds and the chess game. The three themes developed in echoes.