I saw this picture by Max Ernst in the Tate Modern and it struck me as having something of the sinister fairy tale about it. This is possibly because I have been thinking too much about golden birds and forests to do with the Grimm's Fairytale project we are working on at the moment, but when I read the description next to the painting I thought perhaps there could be a slight connection at least in the setting...
Max Ernst (1891 - 1976)
Born Germany, worked Germany, France, USA
Forest and Dove, 1927, oil on canvas
Description in Tate Gallery: 'Forests appear frequently in Ernst's works and recall his feelings of the enchantment and terror of the woods near his childhood home. Forests are a potent symbol in German tradition and were also adopted by the Surrealist group as a metaphor for the imagination. In this work, a small dove, which Ernst liked to use as a symbol to represent himself, is trapped among menacing trees. The shapes are created using a technique he called 'grattage', in which paint is scaled across the canvas to reveal the imprint of objects placed beneath.'
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