Max Ernst (April 1891-April 1976), intellectual artist, was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. One of the key founders of ‘Dadaism’ and ‘Surrealism’, Max enrolled at the University of Bonn in 1909, where he studied philosophy and abnormal psychology, which provided material for his art. In 1912, he took up painting seriously, but it was only in 1918, after his service in the war, that he began to develop his own unique style. He made a series of collages, using illustrations from medical journals and techniques to form bizarre juxtapositions of images. In 1924 Ernst created his famous painting “Two Children Threatened by a Nightingale.”

This oil painting on wood, measuring 27 1/2 x 22 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. (69.8 x 57.1 x 11.4 cm), part of one of those irrational panic instincts, which we suppress when we are fully awake and conscious. In this painting, a red wooden door, superficially adhered to the painted surface of the canvas, acts as the entrance to the pastoral view, with a blue sky sharing most of the artwork. “Two Boys Threatened by a Mockingbird” depicts a girl, frightened by the flying bird (birds were frequent in Ernst’s work), holding a knife. Another feint away on the ground. A man, shown high on the roof, is carrying a baby. He tries to balance with his hand fumbling to grab a knob. The knob is attached to an antique three-dimensional supplement to the canvas. This combination of dissimilar elements on different planes employs the collage technique.

A small bird that becomes frightening, despite its large size, an alarm bell that remains just out of reach, are all the elements of dreams and fantasies. “Two Children Threatened by a Nightingale” incorporates the elements of traditional European painting, such as the illusion of death, a commanding sky, formal poses, a dome-and-tower style of architecture, and a triumphal arch. Furthermore, the painting violates the traditional painting rules of staying within the frame. “Two children are threatened by a nightingale” ‘actually’ goes out of frame, like the doorbell, the door and the house, they are superficial three-dimensional physical objects.

In a way, in Max’s “Two Children Threatened by a Mockingbird”, viewers have the perception of oscillating between the real and the imaginary, the creative and the real. The scene does seem false and purely imaginary than too elemental or childish. Nothing is visible in the image. Yet despite all those traditional limits, the total experience is incredible. Ernst dared to recreate a feeling, quite familiar to us through our dreams. The elements of the painting have a total disorientation. They seem to belong to a fantasy world, where scales, volumes and functions have their unique tangents of purpose. This masterpiece is currently courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.