Gallery Text A key figure in both Dada and surrealism, Ernst painted

© President and Fellows of Harvard College
Gallery Text
A key figure in both Dada and surrealism, Ernst painted
this work after moving from Cologne to Paris, during a
pivotal period when he was shifting away from the
collage technique of his Dada compositions toward
painting and the dreamlike language of surrealism.
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Divided into two registers, ostensibly the “heavenly”
and “earthly” spheres of the title, the work offers an
enigmatic and idiosyncratic interpretation of its theme
of sacred and profane love, long a source of inspiration
for Western artists. Ernst’s grim evocation of heavenly
love, with its Pietà-like arrangement of a mourning
woman and a pale corpse, recalls the recent trauma
and carnage of World War I. The mound of earth and
the strange actions of the figures in the lower, “earthly”
register evoke the creation story, in which man is
formed from a lump of clay, while the enormous snake
menacingly alludes to his ultimate fall.
Identification and Creation
Object Number
2010.463
People
Max Ernst, German (Brühl, Germany 1891 - 1976 Paris,
France)
Title
Heavenly and Earthly Love
Other Titles
Original Language Title: Himmlische und irdische Liebe
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
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c. 1923
Places
Creation Place: Europe, France, Paris
Culture
German
Location
Level 1, Room 1500, Modern and Contemporary Art, Art
in Germany Between the Wars
View this object's location on our interactive map
Physical Descriptions
Medium
Oil on millboard
Technique
Painted
Dimensions
48 x 63 cm (18 7/8 x 24 13/16 in.)
framed: 71 x 85.5 x 4 cm (27 15/16 x 33 11/16 x 1 9/16
in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
(not assigned): Inscriptions/stickers on verso of
painting, attached to back of millboard:
Sticker, red rimmed: Art Institute of Chicago/Max
Ernst/Heavenly and Earthy Love/Mrs. Julian Levy
Loan/1224.1982
Sticker, gray strips top and bottom: AH/Max
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Ernst/"Heavenly and Earthly Love"/oil on board/193/4 x
25 1/2"
Sticker: Moderna Museet/Max Ernst dream and
Revolution/20 Sept 2008 -11 Jan 2009/ Met/2008/063
Sticker: Max Ernst: Dada and the Dawn of
Surrealism/The Museum of Modern Art, NY 3/12/935/2/93/The Menil Collection, Houston 5/27/93 8/29/93/The Art Institute of Chicago 9/15/93 11/30/93/Checklist #169/ Himmlische und irdische
Liebe/ca 1923/24/oil on canvas/ 19 x 25/Lender Dr
Arnd Oetker
Sticker: APF Inc/Frame makers & Conservators/315
East 91st St./Showrooms/231 East 60th Street/&/1001
Madison Ave./New York City
Masking tape: 3191 Levy
Sticker, white: 809
Inscription in red crayon: 46
Inscription in red ink: ?20
Provenance
Max Ernst, Paris (ca. 1923/24); to Mr. Julien Levy
(1930s?-1981), by descent; to Mrs. Julien Levy (19811987);,sold; [through Galerie Folker Skulima (Berlin),
6/12/87] to Dr. Arend Oetker (1987-2010), bequest; to
Busch-Reisinger Museum, 2010.
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Acquisition and Rights
Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, Gift
of Dr. Arend Oetker, donated through the Arbeitskreis
für Kulturelle Aufgaben im Ausland (AKA), Committee
for the Promotion of Arts Abroad
Copyright
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP,
Paris
Accession Year
2010
Object Number
2010.463
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
[email protected]
Publication History
John Russell, Max Ernst: Life and Work (New York,
1967), Nr. 15
Werner Spies, Sigrid Metken, and Günter Metken, ed.,
Max Ernst: Werke 1906-1925 , exh. cat. (Köln, Germany
& Houston, 1975), Vol. 2, Nr. 635
William A. Camfield, Werner Spies, and Walter Hopps,
Max Ernst: Dada and the Dawn of Surrealism , exh. cat.
(Munich, Germany & Houston, 1993), Nr. 169, Plate 158
Siegfried Gohr, ed., Wahre Wunder: Sammler &
Sammlungen im Rheinland, exh. cat. (Köln, Germany,
2000), Nr. G12, Plate 165
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Barbara Eschenburg, Mechthild Fend, and Andreas
Tacke, Pygmalions Werkstatt: die Erschaffung des
Menschen im Atelier von der Renaissance bis zum
Surrealismus, exh. cat., ed. Helmut Friedel (Köln &
München, Germany, 2001), P. 270-71, Nr. 114
Werner Spies, Iris Müller-Westermann, and Kirsten
Degel, ed., Max Ernst: Dream and Revolution, exh. cat.
(Ostfildern, Germany, 2008), p. 84
Exhibition History
32Q: 1500 Art in Germany Between the Wars
(Expressionism-Interwar), Harvard Art Museums,
Cambridge, 11/01/2014
Subjects and Contexts
Collection Highlights
This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff
but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently
revised and enhanced. For more information please
contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art
at [email protected]
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