The Blue Forest

1923

The Salon des Indépendants: a warm welcome from the Cubists

In 1923 Ernst exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants: the critics ignored his work, but the Cubists Georges Braque, Juan Gris and Louis Marcoussis responded warmly. La belle jardinière, shown there, was bought the next year by the Düsseldorf exhibition centre and later removed at the Nazis’ demand; in 1937 Ernst saw it in a photograph of the “degenerate art” exhibition, and it was most likely destroyed.

1924

To Saigon after the Éluards

In March 1924 Paul Éluard abruptly left for Monaco and then for Vietnam. To raise the fare Ernst sold paintings to the gallery owner Johanna Ey; he met Éluard and Gala in Singapore and Saigon, but Gala stayed with Paul. Ernst went on exploring South-East Asia for several more months.

1926

The first large show at Galerie van Leer

In 1926 the Paris gallery van Leer held Ernst’s first large exhibition; in place of a preface the catalogue printed poems by Paul Éluard, Benjamin Péret and Robert Desnos.

1926

“Histoire naturelle”: a portfolio of frottages

At Jeanne Bucher’s press Ernst published Histoire naturelle, a portfolio of drawings in the frottage technique, with an introduction by Hans Arp.

1926

Diaghilev’s ballet and Breton’s scandal

In 1926 Ernst and Joan Miró designed Romeo and Juliet for Sergei Diaghilev’s company; Breton, indignant at the work with the Ballets Russes, made a scandal at the premiere, and in La Révolution surréaliste he and Aragon accused Ernst and Miró of belittling the idea of surrealism. The next issue, however, carried two of Ernst’s works with an apologia by Éluard.

1927

Married: Marie-Berthe Aurenche