Surreal Christmas in Madrid. The Círculo de Bellas Artes, where there is already a Christmas tree with motifs from this movement that turns one hundred years old, will display at the Fernando de Rojas Theater in a comprehensive manner and for the first time in Spain the original curtains, designed and painted by Dalí for ‘Bacchanale ‘, the first paranoid ballet, which was released in 1939 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Alberto Conejero will premiere his monologue ‘Leonora’, focused on the artist Leonora Carrington, partner of Max Ernst, to whom the Círculo de Bellas Artes dedicates a major exhibition. Meanwhile, the Mapfre Foundation ‘revisits’ the historic exhibition that the dealer and patron Peggy Guggenheim, wife of Max Ernst, held in 1943 at her New York gallery, Art of This Century, under the title ‘Exhibition by 31 Women’. Among the 31 selected artists, some who maintained romantic relationships with Ernst: Leonora Carrington, Meret Oppenheim, Leonor Fini or Dorothea Tanning, for whom the artist abandoned the all-powerful Peggy. She was his last wife. Standard Related News Yes The 30 artists that Peggy Guggenheim helped (plus one she wishes she had never helped) Natividad Pulido The Mapfre Foundation ‘revisits’ the historic exhibition that the dealer, collector and patron held in 1943 in its New York galleryBeyond the skirt troubles of this handsome and seductive German, blond and blue-eyed, the Círculo de Bellas Artes proposes a original rereading of his work, focused on its connection with cinema, the result of ambitious research carried out by Jürgen Pech and Martina Mazzotta, curators of the exhibition. ‘Max Ernst. Surrealism, art and cinema’ reviews in the Picasso room, until May 4, his fruitful work – paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, graphic works, illustrated books, his most experimental work (collages, frottages, which he invented) – , but puts the emphasis on cinema. An (almost) unprecedented approach. Already in 1921, André Breton was a visionary. He believed that Ernst’s collages broke the stillness of art and were like a captivating film. This artist inspired not only surrealist cinema, but all cinema to this day. Painting and cinema Above, Max Ernst. ‘The Temptation of Saint Anthony’ (1945). Above these lines, on the left, Max Ernst, in a still from ‘The Golden Age’ (1930), by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí. On the right, ‘Lot’s Daughters’ (1943) Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg / Private Collection / Pietzsch Collection in Berlin “All ideas arise by chance,” said Max Ernst (Brühl, Germany, 1891-Paris, 1976). Philosopher, painter, writer, poet, art theorist, intellectual and humanist (considered the Da Vinci of surrealism), he participated and collaborated in films and documentaries, was a jury at film festivals and even designed film awards. Seven years before Buñuel (with the collaboration of Dalí) filmed ‘An Andalusian Dog’ in 1929, Ernst already captured the same themes in his work ‘Oedipus Rex’, which Paul Éluard acquired. This is the case of the famous scene of the eye cut with a razor. By the way, they say that Gala, Éluard’s partner, fell into Ernst’s arms before Dalí’s. In ‘The Golden Age’, he participated as an actor: he was the boss of some thieves. He also collaborated on Hans Richter projects, such as the experimental film ‘Dreams Money Can Buy’, produced by Peggy Guggenheim and which incorporates work by artists such as Léger, Man Ray, Duchamp, Calder and Ernst himself, and music by Paul Bowles. and John Cage, among others. Ernst was director, screenwriter and actor of the first episode, ‘Deseo’. During the research for the exhibition, the work that appears in the film, ‘Lot’s Daughters’ (Pietzsch collection in Berlin), and which hangs in the exhibition, was identified. As this year celebrates the centenary of the surrealist manifesto, many works are requested for exhibitions around the world. Hence the challenge of obtaining important loans, such as ‘The Temptation of Saint Anthony’, from the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg. It was based on a painting by Matthias Grünewald, from the 16th century. The saint appears in Ernst’s painting wearing a red robe, the color of lust and desire, and trapped by the claws and beaks of monstrous beings. His body, twisted over a green lake. In the background, a naked crucified woman. A life-size reproduction hangs from ‘The Meeting of Friends’, a collage painted by Ernst in which he portrays the Surrealists two years before the publication of the manifesto (it also includes Rafael Sanzio and Dostoevsky). The original is in the Ludwig Museum in Cologne. It is an enigmatic work, full of alchemical symbols and astral references. Also noteworthy are novel-collages, such as ‘The Woman with a Hundred Heads’, from 1929, considered the visual manifesto of surrealism, and ‘A week of kindness’, from 1933; the sculpture ‘Homme’ (Max Ernst Museum in Brühl)… Among the discoveries in the exhibition, an unpublished film shot by gallery owner Julien Levy.Exhibition Three images from the exhibition ‘Max Ernst. Surrealism, art and cinema’ Círculo de Bellas Artes The recreational part is not lacking. Georges Bataille said that Max Ernst “is a philosopher playing.” He plays with his collages, but also with chess, as other famous surrealists did: Duchamp, Man Ray or Dorothea Tanning. On display are the beautiful chess pieces that Ernst made in 1944. He designed two other sets, in 1929 and 1966. «It is a very serious exhibition, but also fun and entertaining; for philosophers and for children », warns Valerio Rocco, director of the Circle. Rafael Giménez, director of Sold Out, adds that “it is an exhibition open to everyone, not art and essay. It also has to be profitable to offset all the expenses. The investment, says Rocco, “has been enormous, very, very important”: rights, insurance, transportation… “It is one of the most ambitious, complex and highest quality exhibitions held in recent years at the Círculo de Fine arts. And not only because of the number of works (close to 400), their value and the variety of formats. The greatest virtue is its thesis: the connection with cinema. It is also a very current exhibition, since Ernst is interested in topics such as ecology and war,” says Valerio Rocco. Includes ‘The Ballad of the Soldier’, a portfolio of 36 lithographs. For the production of the exhibition, the institution has once again relied on Sold Out (it has already worked with this company on exhibitions on Hergé and Stanley Kubrick), famous for projects on popular culture icons: Banksy, Harry Potter, Jurassic World, Marvel, David Bowie, Björk… Nomad, exiled in France and the United States, he enlisted in the German Army in World War I. He was arrested in France for being a ‘hostile foreigner’ and fled from Nazism, which included his work among degenerate art. Max Ernst, a romantic who was always guided by love and passion, and turned the most banal and everyday things into art.
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