Everyone Here Speaks Latin - Max Ernst

A surrealist composition by Max Ernst, featuring small, enigmatic figures within a dense, textured forest environment.

Max Ernst produced Everyone Here Speaks Latin in 1923, a period when his work began to shift from the chaotic assemblages of Dada toward the dream-like imagery of Surrealism. The composition presents a dense, claustrophobic forest environment, rendered with a heavy application of paint that creates a sense of organic decay and growth. The foliage is not merely a background, but a dominant, almost suffocating presence that obscures the horizon.

Within this thicket, small, human-like figures appear. Their presence is jarring, as their bright, unnatural blue skin and red garments contrast with the muted, earthy tones of the surrounding vegetation. These figures seem engaged in obscure, ritualistic activities, their forms partially integrated into the gnarled roots and branches. The title itself adds a layer of intellectual irony, suggesting a hidden language or a secret society operating within the wild, untamed space of the woods.

Ernst utilised techniques such as frottage and grattage to achieve the textures seen in the bark and leaves, scraping away layers of paint to reveal underlying colours. This process allowed for a degree of automatism, where the artist allowed the material to dictate the final form of the image. The result is a scene that feels both ancient and alien, inviting the viewer to interpret the relationship between the human figures and their environment. The work avoids a clear narrative, instead focusing on the creation of an atmosphere that is simultaneously familiar and deeply unsettling. It remains a primary example of how Ernst used traditional oil painting methods to explore the irrational and the subconscious, moving away from the representational norms of the early twentieth century to create a visual language entirely his own.