Attirement of the Bride
7:00 AM |
| Max Ernst, Attirement of the Bride, 1940 |
Drawn to this painting by its whimsical, slightly jaded tone, I felt I was doing an injustice not to keep it on the wall. Originally, it was Ernst’s clever use of surrealism that held my attention. Surrealism has always been a technique I wanted to be good at in my own paintings, and because of that I really admire the absurdity Max Ernst creates. That being said, Max Ernst dabbled often in the absurdity as he claims in 1930. "Ernst was visited nearly every day by the Bird Superior, named Loplop, an extraordinary phantom of model fidelity who attached himself to [his] person. He presented [him] with a heart in a cage, two petals, three leaves, a flower and a young girl." This bit of information inclines me to feel overwhelmed with the symbolism behind these characters and this painting.
Not knowing where to begin in this absurd conundrum I resort to analysing the title, leading my attention to the attire of the bride in the center. Her get-up could be seen as a luxurious cloak transformed to look like a bird. Fashioning this bird cloak, the bride's nakedness peeks through, mirroring the picture on the wall. However, the fantasy characters around her fail to appear in the picture. Almost as if Ernst is taking a "normal" picture in the background, and inserting his own surrealist twist, proving to the world his possible verge on insanity.
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