Crystallization of the Forest

Born Herold Blumer into a Jewish family in Romania, Jacques Hérold moved to Paris in 1930, changed his name, became friends with Yves Tanguy, and became part of the Surrealist circle of artists and writers active in the French capital at the time. The theme of an untamed, menacing forest was a recurring metaphor in Surrealist art and literature. The artist made this forest scene—with a batlike creature flying through the air—when the spread of atomic weapons was inciting fears of nuclear annihilation.