Mattamathics

1946

Married: Dorothea Tanning

October 1946

A double wedding in Hollywood with Man Ray

Ernst and Dorothea Tanning went to Hollywood to marry, asking Man Ray and his friend Juliet Browner to be their witnesses; the two decided to marry as well, and the result was a double ceremony in Beverly Hills.

1946–1953

Sedona: a house and “Capricorn” built with his own hands

Ernst built the house himself, helped by a young admirer and short of money, and made the 2.4-metre Capricorn, a seated bull-man, from empty bottles, springs and cement; the property became known as Capricorn Hill. The couple took an interest in the rites of the local Native American tribes, Ernst buying objects and masks from them, and friends visited only occasionally.

1947

The Paris surrealist exhibition, from a distance

In 1947 Breton organised a surrealist exhibition in Paris, turning the gallery into a sanctuary for initiation on the model of the Eleusinian mysteries. Ernst, still in Arizona, took an active part in the preparations: he painted Black Lake (the spring that feeds anxiety), made a colour lithograph for the catalogue and sent several finished paintings.

1948

The book “Beyond Painting”

In 1948 Ernst published the large essay Beyond Painting, compiled in Sedona; as a result of the book and its publicity he began to achieve financial success.

1950–1953

Return to France

By some accounts Ernst went back to France in 1950 and settled in Paris; by others he lived in Sedona until 1953. From the 1950s he lived mainly in France and achieved financial success.