Le passé et le présent (Past and Present)
Max Ernst (Brühl 1891 – Paris 1976)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1932 - 1934
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
651 x 1088 x 20 mm
Place of origin
Paris
Order this imageCollection
2 Willow Road, London (Accredited Museum)
On show at
2 Willow Road, London, London and South East, National Trust
NT 112786
Caption
By the mid twentieth century, Hampstead was known as a neighbourhood of artists and intellectuals. Goldfinger himself kept company with Surrealist artists such as Max Ernst, who painted this diptych, and Roland Penrose, a fellow Hampstead resident whom he knew from his Paris days.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Le passé et le présent (Past and Present) (diptych) by Max Ernst (Brühl 1891 – Paris 1976), 1932-34. The left hand panel depicting a man's head on a blue background with waved lines within the head. The right hand panel mirroring the left but on a background comprising geometric and curvilinear lines bisecting each other and dividing the ground into areas of bold colour. Within a simple stained pine frame, with a vertical stretcher dividing the two panels of the painting.
Provenance
Acquired by Goldfinger in 1934; initially on loan from the Goldfinger family since 1994, formally purchased by the National Trust in 2000
Credit line
2 Willow Road, The Ernö Goldfinger Collection (National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Bottom right hand corner.: Signed by artist "Max Ernst".
Makers and roles
Max Ernst (Brühl 1891 – Paris 1976), artist