Question 1

True or false: Max Ernst never visited the United States, despite his fame there.

Accepted Answer

False. He fled to the US in 1941 during WWII, living in New York and Arizona until returning to France in 1953.

Question 2

True or false: Max Ernst's famous painting 'The Elephant Celebes' was inspired by a dream of a mechanical elephant.

Accepted Answer

False. It was actually based on a photo of a Sudanese grain silo, not a dream. The title comes from a German children's rhyme.

Question 3

True or false: He was married to fellow artist Dorothea Tanning for over 30 years.

Accepted Answer

True. Ernst married Tanning in 1946, and they remained together until his death in 1976, influencing each other's work.

Question 4

True or false: Max Ernst was a founder of both Dada and Surrealism.

Accepted Answer

True. He helped launch Dada in Cologne and later became a key Surrealist, pioneering techniques like frottage and collage.

Question 5

True or false: Ernst's work 'Ubu Imperator' features a giant spinning top with a human leg.

Accepted Answer

True. This 1923 painting shows a bizarre top-like figure with a single leg, blending mechanical and organic forms.

Question 6

True or false: Ernst created the 'grattage' technique by scraping paint over textured surfaces.

Accepted Answer

True. Grattage involved scraping wet paint across a canvas laid on textured objects, revealing unexpected patterns.

Question 7

True or false: He was arrested by the Gestapo during World War II for his art.

Accepted Answer

True. Ernst was briefly interned by the Nazis in France in 1940 as a 'hostile alien' due to his avant-garde work.

Question 8

True or false: Ernst invented the surrealist game 'Exquisite Corpse' with André Breton and others.

Accepted Answer

False. While a Surrealist, the Exquisite Corpse game was created by Yves Tanguy, Joan Miró, and friends, not Ernst.

Max Ernst Trivia Questions