''The Elephant Celebes'' (or short ''Celebes'') is a 1921 painting by the German

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

ist and

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...

. It is among the most famous of Ernst's early surrealist works and "undoubtedly the first masterpiece of Surrealist painting in the

de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( ; ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. His ...

tradition." It combines the vivid dreamlike atmosphere of Surrealism with the

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

aspects of

Description and influence

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( ; ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. His ...

was an inspiration for the early Surrealists, and ''Celebes''' palette and spatial construction show his influence. The painting also attempts to apply Dada's

effects to simulate different materials. Ernst's realistic portrayal of the constituent elements produces a hallucinatory effect that he associated with collage, and was trying to achieve in this painting. Regarding the art of collage, Ernst said, "It is the systematic exploitation of the coincidental or artificially provoked encounter of two or more unrelated realities on an apparently inappropriate plane and the spark of poetry created by the proximity of these realities." The central focus of the painting is a giant mechanical

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

. It is round and has a trunk-like hose protruding from it. The figure's round body was modeled after

Robert Schomburgk Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk (5 June 1804 – 11 March 1865) was a Holy Roman Empire-born explorer for Great Britain who carried out geographical, ethnological and botanical studies in South America and the West Indies, and also fulfilled diplo ...

's photograph of a three-legged clay guinea corn bin from a

West African West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ma ...

culture, the Konkomba. The photograph was published in a travel memoir and in an anthropological journal. ''Celebes'' suggests "ritual and totemic sculpture of African origin", evidenced by the totem-like pole at right and the figure's bull horns. The painting uniquely combines found imagery and non-Western visual elements. Ernst's creature has a frilly metallic cuff or collar, and a horned head and tail. The low horizon emphasizes the creature's bulk, and the gesture of the headless mannequin introduces the viewer to the figure. The mannequin wears a surgical glove, a common Surrealist symbol. This nude figure may have a mythological connotation, suggesting the abduction of Europa by

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

while disguised as a bull. The mostly empty sky contains more incongruities: there are two fish 'flying' at left (one writer considers the scene to be underwater). The black shape to the right of the fish looks like an oncoming airplane, and there is a trail of smoke in the right part of the sky. These may be allusions to the "mechanical terror of the war experience" which led to Ernst writing, 'On the 1st of August 1914 Max Ernst died. He was resurrected on the 11 November 1918 as a young man who aspired to find the myths of his time.' ''Celebes'', then, seems to represent the myth of destruction. "Celebes" was once the popular name for the island of

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

, one of the

Greater Sunda Islands The Greater Sunda Islands (Indonesian language, Indonesian and Malay language, Malay: ''Kepulauan Sunda Besar'') are four tropical islands situated within the Indonesian Archipelago, in the Pacific Ocean. The islands, Borneo, Java, Sulawesi and S ...

of Indonesia. Ernst told

Roland Penrose Sir Roland Algernon Penrose (14 October 1900 – 23 April 1984) was an English artist, historian and poet. He was a major promoter and collector of modern art and an associate of the surrealists in the United Kingdom. During the Second World ...

that the title ''Celebes'' was derived from the opening words of a German schoolboys' rhyme with sexual connotations:

History

The painting's short original title is ''Celebes'', according to inscriptions on the front and back of the canvas. Ernst painted ''Celebes'' in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

in 1921. The French poet and Surrealist

Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...

visited Ernst that year and purchased the painting and took it back to Paris. Éluard would buy other of Ernst's paintings, and Ernst painted murals for Éluard's house in

Eaubonne Eaubonne () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department, in the northern outer suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Population Twin towns It is twinned with Matlock, Derbyshire, England; Budenheim, Germany and ...

. It remained in Éluard's collection until 1938 and was then purchased by the English artist

. It has been in the collection of the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

gallery, London, since 1975 and is displayed in the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

. The money from Penrose's sale of the painting was used to set up the grant-giving Elephant Trust which continues to administer bursaries to artists and small arts organisation in the UK. The back of the canvas is decorated with some doodles that are seemingly unconnected to the subject matter on the front of the canvas, including two figures holding

golf club A golf club is a club used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a club head. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety o ...

s adjacent to the word "GOLF".

In popular culture

The painting was the inspiration for the naming of the Elephant 6 recording collective. According to Apples in Stereo frontman

Robert Schneider Robert Peter Schneider (born March 9, 1971) is an American musician and mathematician. He is the lead singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer of rock/pop band the Apples in Stereo and has produced and performed on albums by Neutral Milk ...

, he chose the name because he was enchanted by the painting but misheard its title.;
;
;
(earlier version by Chad B. Stockfleth)

Sources

External links

Image and description

gallery {{DEFAULTSORT:Elephant Celebes, The Paintings by Max Ernst Surrealist paintings Dada paintings 1921 paintings Elephants in art Paintings in the Tate galleries Oil on canvas paintings Animal paintings