''Forest and Dove'' (1927) is a painting by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism ...

. It depicts a nocturnal scene of a forest of bizarre, abstract trees. In the thick of the forest is a childlike depiction of a dove. Both the forest and dove themes have appeared several times in Ernst's works. According to an analysis by the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

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the forest image represents the forest near Ernst's childhood home which inspired a sense of ‘enchantment and terror’ in the artist. The same analysis also states that the dove represents Ernst himself. The painting has a heavily textured and three-dimensional appearance. This is owed to a technique called

grattage Grattage (literally "scratching", "scraping") is a technique in surrealist painting which consists of "scratching" fresh paint with a sharp blade. In this technique, one typically attempts to scratch and remove the chromatic pigment spread on ...

. Grattage was invented by Ernst and the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

surrealist

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , , ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona i ...

. This technique involves scraping the paint across the canvas so that the paint takes on the imprints of objects placed beneath the canvas.

References

Tate Gallery
Paintings by Max Ernst Surrealist paintings 1927 paintings Doves in art Collection of the Tate galleries {{20C-painting-stub