Forest and Sun

1925

A contract with Jacques Viot and a studio in Montmartre

Back in Paris Ernst signed a contract with Jacques Viot that let him paint full-time, and in 1925 he took a studio at 22 rue Tourlaque in Montmartre. The contract ended in June with Viot’s mysterious disappearance.

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

1929

The collage novel “La Femme 100 têtes”

In 1929 appeared the graphic novel La Femme 100 têtes, some 150 drawings with the artist’s text and an address to the reader by André Breton. One of its characters was Loplop, the chief of the birds, who appeared in Ernst’s work again and again.