Aquis submersus (Max Ernst)
| Aquis submersus |
|---|
| Max Ernst , 1919 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 54 × 44 cm |
|
Städel , Frankfurt
Link to the picture |
Aquis submersus is an oil painting created in 1919 by Max Ernst from his early Surrealist phase. It can currently be viewed in the Städel collection in Frankfurt.
history
The title comes from Theodor Storm's novella Aquis submersus , first published in 1876 , the Latin title means something like "perish through water". The content of the picture is based strongly on the oil painting I piaceri del poeta painted in 1911 by Giorgio de Chirico , a representative of the Pittura metafisica . Max Ernst had got to know de Chirico's works in Munich in 1919 when he saw the Valori Plastici magazine in Hans Goltz's bookstore , in which the Italian artist was represented with a text about his pictures.
description
The painting shows a swimming pool, surrounded on three sides by four differently designed modular buildings that cast strong shadows. The moon stands in the midnight blue sky and, represented there in the form of a clock, is reflected in its true shape in the water of the pool. In the pool, which is filled with blue-green water, a possibly female person clad in red bathing trunks is depicted, whose head, arms and parts of the upper body are under water, the lower body and legs protrude. She appears to be diving or drowning. Schools of fish surround them. In the foreground stands an armless figure with a mustache, as if made of clay; round openings represent nipples, navel and gender. She is not fixated on what is happening, but looks out of the picture. Your shadow is reflected towards the water. Parallel to this, a long, narrow shadow can be seen to the left of the viewer, the origin of which remains unknown and in the middle of which the artist's signature is placed. The title Aquis submersus appears on the right front edge of the picture.
Titling and inspiration
Storm's novella tells of the tragic end of a forbidden love and the death of a child. Max Ernst provided his painting of the same name with sober and coldly rendered elements of reality, but he exaggerated the events with surreal accents.
In de Chirico's painting I piaceri del poeta ( Eng : the poet's joys ), which Ernst inspired, depicts a swimming pool, a person dressed in white, two buildings and even the clock, which, however, conventionally hangs under the gable of a building. With Ernst it stands in the sky like the moon and as such is reflected in the water of the swimming pool.
literature
- Ulrich Bischoff : Max Ernst 1891–1976. Beyond painting . Taschen, Cologne 1988, ISBN 3-8228-0244-1 ; New edition 2009 ISBN 978-3-8228-6594-1
Web links
- Arno Widmann: How Seriously Takes Fear , in: Frankfurter Rundschau , February 7, 2013
Individual evidence
- ^ Ulrich Bischoff: Max Ernst 1891–1976. Beyond Painting , p. 8 f.
- ↑ Quoted from the description of the Städel in the picture box
- ↑ Fig.Giorgio de Chirico: I piaceri del poeta , 1911, private collection
- ↑ Quoted after the web link Arno Widmann: How seriously takes fear
