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Lot Essay
As part of their honeymoon in 1946, Max Ernst and the Surrealist artist Dorothea Tanning took a nine day raft trip down the Colorado river. They were deeply impressed both by the timeless, scenic splendor and by the artifacts of Indian culture they encountered. This trip later inspired a series of stunningly beautiful works, all with the punning title Color-radeau de la Meduse (Colour - Raft of the Medusa
Speaking of these works, John Russell has commented, "These are paintings in which images are stacked one on top of the other like cards on a gaming-table, colour is rich and resourceful, and the paint is put on a dozen different ways without ever losing the look, the touch, and the taste of reborn. They are painting in which Max Ernst got his private imaginative experience to live with elements from the 'real' world: he provides in these pictures the best possible illustration of what Caspar David Friedrich meant when he said: "The artist should paint what he see within himself" ... Something of the peaks, something of the shadowed gullies, something of the many-fathomed whirlpools in question contributed to the imagery of Colorado of Medusa ... But the real subject of the paintings is the interpenetration of the conscious and the unconscious worlds. In particular, they have to do with the artist's ability to raid the unconscious and come back alive" (J. Russell, Max Ernst, Life and Work, New York, 1967, p. 158).
Speaking of these works, John Russell has commented, "These are paintings in which images are stacked one on top of the other like cards on a gaming-table, colour is rich and resourceful, and the paint is put on a dozen different ways without ever losing the look, the touch, and the taste of reborn. They are painting in which Max Ernst got his private imaginative experience to live with elements from the 'real' world: he provides in these pictures the best possible illustration of what Caspar David Friedrich meant when he said: "The artist should paint what he see within himself" ... Something of the peaks, something of the shadowed gullies, something of the many-fathomed whirlpools in question contributed to the imagery of Colorado of Medusa ... But the real subject of the paintings is the interpenetration of the conscious and the unconscious worlds. In particular, they have to do with the artist's ability to raid the unconscious and come back alive" (J. Russell, Max Ernst, Life and Work, New York, 1967, p. 158).