The Arrival of Travellers - Max Ernst

A surrealist illustration from the 1922 collaboration between Max Ernst and Paul Éluard, featuring dream-like figures and irrational compositions.

This work is a plate from the 1922 publication, Les Malheurs des immortels (The Misfortunes of the Immortals), a collaborative project between Max Ernst and the poet Paul Éluard. The book consists of a series of collages by Ernst, accompanied by prose poems written by Éluard. These images were created using a technique Ernst developed, which involved cutting out illustrations from nineteenth-century catalogues and scientific manuals, then reassembling them into illogical, dream-like scenes.

In this specific composition, two figures occupy a sparse, desert-like space. The figure on the left is a hybrid creature, possessing a fan-like head and a body that bends forward in an unnatural posture. The figure on the right stands upright, wearing a suit, yet its head is replaced by two vertical, hand-like forms. A small, skeletal structure resembling a radio mast or antenna stands in the background, adding to the sense of alienation and technological absurdity common in Ernst's early work. The colour palette is restrained, relying on pale washes of gouache to define the figures against the stark, empty background.

Ernst used these collages to disrupt the viewer's perception of reality. By placing familiar objects in unfamiliar, irrational contexts, he invited the audience to question the stability of the physical world. The work reflects the Dadaist roots of the Surrealist movement, where humour, irony, and the rejection of traditional artistic logic were central. The precise, thin lines of the original source material are preserved, creating a sharp contrast with the fluid, hand-painted additions. This piece offers a glimpse into the early development of Surrealist visual language, where the juxtaposition of disparate elements creates a new, unsettling narrative.