Max Ernst Quotes

Collage is the noble conquest of the irrational, the coupling of two realities, irreconcilable in appearance, upon a plane which apparently does not suit them.

Creativity is that marvelous capacity to grasp mutually distinct realities and draw a spark from their juxtaposition.

Painting is neither decorative amusement, nor the plastic invention of felt reality; it must be every time: invention, discovery, revelation.

When the artist finds himself he is lost. The fact that he has succeeded in never finding himself is regarded by Max Ernst as his only lasting achievement.

All good ideas arrive by chance.

Art has nothing to do with taste. Art is not there to be tasted

The artist is a spectator, indifferent or impassioned, at the birth of his work, and observes the phases of its development.

I have never seen a beautiful painting of a beautiful woman. But you can take an ugly woman and make a beautiful painting of her. It is the painting itself that should be beautiful.

Before he goes into the water, a diver cannot know what he will bring back.

Collage is a supersensitive and scrupulously accurate instrument, similar to a seismograph, which is able to record the exact amount of the possibility of human happiness at any period.

The role of the painter . . . is to project that which sees itself in him.

And Loplop, bird superior, has transformed himself into flesh without flesh and will dwell among us.

The virtue of pride, which was once the beauty of mankind, has given place to that fount of ugliness, Christian humility.

I succeeded in simply attending at the birth of all my works.

My paintings are not meant to be tasted.

Art has got nothing to do with taste.