Max Ernst

Paul Eluard, Paris (sold: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Collection Eluard, 3rd July 1924, lot 36)
Galerie Arditti, Paris
Private Collection, New York
Galerie Beyeler, Basel (acquired from the above in 1966)
Galerie Tarica, Paris (acquired from the above in 1966)
Private Collection, Geneva
Private Collection, France (acquired from the above in 1987. Sold: Sotheby's, Paris, 28th May 2009, lot 15)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Salon des Indépendants, 1923
Zurich, Kunsthaus & Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Dada, Exposition commémorative du cinquantenaire, 1966-67, no. 79
Hannover, Kunstmuseum, Max Ernst, 1981, no. 1, illustrated in colour in the catalogue (with incorrect measurements)
Paris, Didier Imbert Fine Art, Tableaux du XIXe et XXe siècle, 1987, no. 11
New York, The Museum of Modern Art; Houston, The Menil Collection & Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Max Ernst: Dada and the Dawn of Surrealism, 1993, no. 140, illustrated in colour in the catalogue (with incorrect measurements)
Brühl, Max Ernst Museum (on loan 2008-12)

Florent Fels, 'Die Indépendants', in Das Kunstblatt, vol. IV, 7th April 1923, p. 122
Bulletin de L'Effort Moderne, March 1925, no. 13, illustrated
André Breton, Le Surréalisme et la peinture, nouvelle édition revue et corrigée 1928-1965, Paris, 1965, illustrated p. 28
Sarane Alexandrian, Max Ernst, Paris, 1971, illustrated p. 38
José Vovelle, Le Surréalisme en Belgique, Brussels, 1972, mentioned p. 92
Werner Spies, Max Ernst - Collagen. Inventar und Widerspruch, Cologne, 1974, mentioned pp. 46 & 126
Werner Spies, Max Ernst, Œuvre-Katalog, Werke 1906-1925, Cologne, 1975, no. 600, illustrated p. 310 (with incorrect measurements)
Ludger Derenthal & Jürgen Pech, Max Ernst, Paris, 1992, no. 123, illustrated in colour p. 71 (with incorrect measurements)

The canvas is unlined. There are some small spots of retouching mainly at the edges visible under ultraviolet light. Apart from some horizontal stretcher marks and some craquelure throughout, this work is in good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although the vases are less yellow and have a more neutral grey tonality in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The year 1922 was an important period of transition from Dada towards Surrealism, and L’Intérieur de la vue reflects the shifting of focus and development of new ideas not only in Ernst’s work, but also in European avant-garde art in general. In the autumn of that year Ernst left Cologne and settled in Paris, where he joined André Breton, Tristan Tzara and Paul Eluard. By this time, Dada group activities were losing momentum and while Breton struggled to find a new identity for the artists gathered around him, Max Ernst produced a number of works which foreshadowed the birth of Surrealism which was declared in 1924, with the publishing of Breton’s Manifeste du Surréalisme. In the paintings of this transitional period, which William Rubin called ‘Proto-Surrealist Pictures’, Ernst abandoned his experiments with the innovative techniques of his earlier Dada works, and turned to exploring the poetry of the image. By the end of 1921, Ernst returned to painting, inventing new motifs from the realms of dream and the unconscious, ‘using the intangible qualities of paint and canvas to convey the equally intangible realm of dream’ (Diane Waldman in Max Ernst, A Retrospective (exhibition catalogue), The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1975, p. 34).

L’Intérieur de la vue depicts five vases with flowers inside them, thus starting from a traditional subject matter of still-life, which is manipulated and transformed into an irrational, fantastic image. The flowers at first seem to be floral motifs painted on the outside of the vases, but small parts of the stems and leaves appearing from inside suggest ‘real’ flowers paradoxically placed inside the vases. Writing about the present work José Vovelle observed that this visual pun finds numerous equivalents in the paintings of René Magritte (J. Vovelle, op. cit., p. 92). Unlike many of Ernst’s Dada works, L’Intérieur de la vue does not present disturbing, violent juxtapositions; it is symmetrically composed and pleasing to the eye, and the precision and naturalism with which the still-life is rendered underscores its fantastic nature. Discussing this work Professor William Camfield commented: ‘with longer exposure, there is an intensity about this painting. These vases are alert, animated forms, pregnant with life and quietly stated but absolute ambiguities of form, space, and light’ (W. Camfield in Max Ernst: Dada and the Dawn of Surrealism (exhibition catalogue), op. cit., p. 132).