Max Ernst: From Persecution to Freedom
Max Ernst: From Persecution to Freedom

On the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2022, the museum participates in the program promoted by the city of Venice with a talk on the life of the French-German artist, Max Ernst. The talk will focus particularly on his Young Woman in the Form of a Flower (1944), which is exhibited in the museum’s sculpture garden. Participation is free with regular admission ticket.

Booking tickets online is strongly recommended.

Max Ernst distinguished himself as one of the main figures of Dadaism and Surrealism, two of the major art movements of the 20th century. His oeuvre is characterized by recurring themes. Over the course of his career, Ernst engaged with ideas related to the occult, alchemy, metamorphosis and the unity of the universe. Together with Theo Brün, Otto Dix, Vasily Kandinsky and many others, his work was included in the Degenerate Art Exhibition, the travelling propaganda art show organized by Adolf Ziegler and the Nazi government, inaugurated in Munich on 19 July 1937.

In 1939, Ernst was considered an enemy alien and imprisoned in Camp des Milles, a French internment camp. Two years later, he escaped to the United States with the help of Peggy Guggenheim, whom he married in 1941.

The sculpture, Young Woman in the Form of a Flower (1944), is an example of Ernst employing his studies of metamorphosis to illustrate the symbolic correlation between woman and nature. He portrays physical transformation, representing the assimilation of the female form into that of a flower, captured in a fairly advanced stage.

Presentation will be given in English.

  • Free / Registration required