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Lot Essay
A mixture of trompe-l'oeil watercolour, frottage, drawing and collage, Poire (Pear) is an intriguing work from an important stage in Ernst's career when the artist was first beginning to explore the implications of the frottage technique. Poire dates from the period when, under the increasing influence of the Surrealist group, Ernst's art was developing away from the largely cubist-orientated aesthetic of his earlier Dada paintings and collages towards one that sought to uncover the hidden alchemy of his unconscious mind.
Poire belongs to a small and enigmatic group of pictures in which the techniques of trompe l'oeil and frottage are interspersed to describe a mysterious world of symbolism based around a variety of fruit ranging from apples and pears to grapes and raisins. Ernst had been fascinated with the illusionary mystery of trompe l'oeil painting ever since his childhood, often recalling a trompe l'oeil painting on the wardrobe in his bedroom in the house where he grew up. In 1923 while living in a ménage à trois with Paul and Gala Eluard, Ernst had spent much of the year painting enigmatic and bizarre trompe l'oeil murals in their house at Eaubonne. The series of mysterious and enigmatic trompe l'oeil paintings to which Poire belongs seems to recall the atmosphere of these extraordinary murals and Poire in particular may well refer directly to this period in Ernst's life. The card shown behind the illusional scroll with Ernst's exquisite trompe l'oeil painting of a pear displays three hearts - a possible reference to his threesome with the Eluards. The reverse of the work bears an even more intriguing inscription (not in Ernst's hand) that declares Dans un menage a trois il y a toujours une Poire (In a menage a trois there is always a 'Pear'). In French the phrase une bonne Poire refers to the person who is always making sacrifices for and bearing the weight of the others in the group. Its appearance here alongside the fact that the title of another of Ernst's paintings of pears from this period is entitled La Poire qui me ressemble suggests that it was perhaps Ernst himself who felt he was the 'Bonne Poire' in his ménage à trois with the Eluards.
Poire belongs to a small and enigmatic group of pictures in which the techniques of trompe l'oeil and frottage are interspersed to describe a mysterious world of symbolism based around a variety of fruit ranging from apples and pears to grapes and raisins. Ernst had been fascinated with the illusionary mystery of trompe l'oeil painting ever since his childhood, often recalling a trompe l'oeil painting on the wardrobe in his bedroom in the house where he grew up. In 1923 while living in a ménage à trois with Paul and Gala Eluard, Ernst had spent much of the year painting enigmatic and bizarre trompe l'oeil murals in their house at Eaubonne. The series of mysterious and enigmatic trompe l'oeil paintings to which Poire belongs seems to recall the atmosphere of these extraordinary murals and Poire in particular may well refer directly to this period in Ernst's life. The card shown behind the illusional scroll with Ernst's exquisite trompe l'oeil painting of a pear displays three hearts - a possible reference to his threesome with the Eluards. The reverse of the work bears an even more intriguing inscription (not in Ernst's hand) that declares Dans un menage a trois il y a toujours une Poire (In a menage a trois there is always a 'Pear'). In French the phrase une bonne Poire refers to the person who is always making sacrifices for and bearing the weight of the others in the group. Its appearance here alongside the fact that the title of another of Ernst's paintings of pears from this period is entitled La Poire qui me ressemble suggests that it was perhaps Ernst himself who felt he was the 'Bonne Poire' in his ménage à trois with the Eluards.