Max ERNST exhibits the titles of his latest works at Gala Éluard. 1927.

Max ERNST (1891.1976)

Autograph letter signed to Gala Éluard.

Four pages in-8°.

Without place or date. [Megève. 1927]

“Yes, the paintings still “work”. I destroyed three of the ones you know and I have twelve very good ones. The subjects are always very simple and very precise. »

Beautiful letter from Max Ernst to Gala. After the artist's two memorable exhibitions at the Van Leer Gallery in March 1926 and March 1927, Ernst returned to his lover about his works with “ always very simple and very precise subjects. »

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“My little girl, must I sadden you with the stories of new excursions and beautiful weather as we have not had a single day together. The day before yesterday, for example, I was on Mont-Joue [sic] (at about 2,000) and saw a blue sky so black that we could discern – in broad daylight – a few stars. So I had a frightening vision. There appear horses [sic] and an enormous nose, all surrounded by a large fiery red ribbon. It was the “summer” animal that had come there to take revenge on me. I fled, desperately [sic] . I also had to return to the Col d'Arbois where - naturally -, according to their noble custom, the friends were […] Without Auguste and his little pot, because this one still suffers from the consequences of his vanity which had pushed him to make a superb failed jump on skis in front of all the ladies on the slope. He really screwed up.

Yes, the “companions” are gone [sic] ; Paul must have seen Baron at Cyrano. Yes, the tables still “work”. I destroyed three of the ones you know and I have twelve very good ones. The subjects are always very simple and very precise. “2 young girls in beautiful poses and young man-double”, “man walking on the water, holding a young girl in his hand and jostling another”, “the surprising shadow”, “joyful return from fishing », “what is happening at the seaside”, “the wedding”, “vision that I had at the top of Mont-Joly”, etc. etc .

I didn't know that Paul was also accused by Desnos. What's he got going on with Paul?

I'm going to start writing my half-sleep visions this evening. I would also like us to reproduce in this monster issue of the RS [The Surrealist Revolution] “the chaste Joseph”, you know, this collage that I reported recently . It must be on the table in my workshop. Finally, I will come back next week. I'm waiting for money from Van Leer [gallery owner Leonard Van Leer] so I can pay and leave (as you don't want to come back here, it seems).

Yes, my little girl, I love you very much and I was terribly happy to find your letter last night. AT your M.”

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At the beginning of 1927, Max Ernst explored in a series of paintings all the possibilities of rubbing and scraping, techniques invented in 1925: “All these paintings […] were executed during the winter in Megève […]. These were the first specimens of a new technique related to frottage. It consists of making transparent lines appear on a canvas prepared in advance with light colors and placed on an uneven surface (a piece of string for example), using a mason's spatula coated with darker colors. Simplicity itself! We still need to know how to find signs leading to unforeseen interpretations in this optical game” (Max Ernst, Scripts , 1970). Several of these works evoked the couple and love by borrowing their staging from Christian iconography.