Mutter und Kind auf dem Erdball

Drawing on his love of birds, Max Ernst invented an alter ego called Loplop—a birdlike creature which reappeared in different forms and colors in his graphic works and paintings. Hidden behind the mask of Loplop, Ernst attributed deep psychological, mythological, and autobiographical meanings to his alter ego. In Ernst’s later works his pictorial language increasingly displayed biomorphous, organic forms. Random and invented elements fused to form surreal, fantastic pictorial worlds.

In his painting »Mother and Child on the Globe«, we can make out three bird creatures. The mother is loosely composed of a red circle as her head and a large blue area as her torso—with the semblance of feet and tail feathers—while the similarly formed chicks are positioned on her side and tail. Through the abstract relationships of form, color, and surface, Ernst gives visual expression to the intimate and elementary bond between mother and child.