Le couple

Author: Marijke Peyser

Max Ernst, Jean (Hans) Arp and Johannes Baargeld formed the Cologne Dada group in 1919. Like the Dadaists elsewhere they wanted to turn the world upside down, just as the First World War had radically changed their world. They published a variety of magazines and staged some exhibitions.^[1] In that period Ernst admired reproductions of the metaphysical paintings by Giorgio de Chirico in the magazine Valori Plastici.^[2] In 1919, inspired by this Italian artist, he made his first collages from cut-outs from everyday images, which he combined to make highly imaginative compositions.^[3]

In 1921, at the invitation of Ernst and Baargeld, the French Dadaists, including Tristan Tzara, Arp, Paul Éluard, his wife Gala and André Breton visited the Tyrol and Cologne.^[4] They admired Ernst’s collages because they saw similarities to their own poetic experiments that they showcased in the Dada magazine Littérature (first series 1919-21) edited by Breton, Philippe Soupault and Louis Aragon.^[5] After Ernst got to know Éluard in 1921, an intensive working relationship between the two men and a very amicable association with Gala developed.^[6] In 1922 Ernst left his wife Louise Strauss and their young son behind in Germany and moved to Paris. In 1923 Ernst joined the Éluards, who were living in Eaubonne. During the summer months Ernst decorated their house with a number of spectacular wall paintings.^[7] The artist depicted aspects of their ménage-à-trois in works like Le couple and Vive l’amour ou Pays charmant (both dated 1923), in which there are couples or ‘duplication’. Le couple shows two figures in an almost empty space. Only the arms of the figure on the right have a recognisable human shape. The other body parts are represented by collage-like constructions of lace, tassels and fringing. The figure on the left with legs crossed and round shapes probably represents a woman. The figure on the right may be a man.^[8]

The second series of the magazine Littérature was published between 1922 and 1924; this marked the transition from Dadaism to Surrealism. In the autumn of 1922 Breton, Aragon, Desnos, Éluard, Ernst and Benjamin Péret began to experiment with hypnosis. When they met on 27 September Desnos was hypnotized, with a pen and paper within reach.^[9] Everyone present was able to ask a question that Desnos answered with a drawing or a short sentence. While he held Éluard’s hand Desnos was asked: ‘How do you see Éluard?’ ‘He is blue’. ‘Why blue?’ ‘Because the sky nests’.^[10] This remark may have affected Ernst and Le couple could be a portrait of Éluard and Gala.

Aside from the work Histoire naturelle (1926), which consists of a folder containing 34 heliogravures, and a lithograph, Le couple is the only painting by Ernst in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s collection. It came from the Belgian collection of Bertie and Gigi Urvater.^[11]