Tree of Life
European Art

Tree of Life
Artwork Details
Artist/Maker
Max Ernst
French, born Germany, 1891–1976
French, born Germany, 1891–1976
Date
1928
Medium
Oil on canvas
Accession #
1983.92
Dimensions
114 x 82 3/4 inches
Location
On View - Stent Family Wing, Level 2, Gallery 208
Description
In Tree of Life, Max Ernst depicted a dream-like underwater world inhabited by strange hybrid creatures. Like his fellow Surrealists, Ernst challenged traditional artistic values by tapping the irrational, inner world of dreams and the unconscious mind. To do so, he often juxtaposed seemingly unrelated objects. Ernst loved birds and frequently included them in his paintings as symbols of pleasure. Snakes, on the other hand, represented horror. The serpent with a bird’s head in the center of this painting thus evokes the curious connection between pleasure and horror.
Credit
Purchase with funds from Alfred Austell Thornton in memory of Leila Austell Thornton and Albert Edward Thornton, Sr., and Sarah Miller Venable and William Hoyt VenableImage Copyright
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris