Ubu Imperator
[1923]
Ubu Imperator
[1923]
Founder of the Dada group in Cologne, where he made very personal and disturbing collages, Max Ernst moved to Paris in 1922. There he turned to a sometimes monumental oil-painting that testifies to a marked interest in Freudian psychoanalysis and the imagery of the unconscious.
Ubu Imperator exemplifies this new orientation, originating in a dream the artist recounted in La révolution surréaliste in 1927, and which makes of Ubu a representation of his father. Chief character of a play published by Alfred Jarry in 1896, Ubu is the grotesque embodiment of a supposedly powerful man completely full of himself, ridiculous in his pride.
| Domain | Peinture |
|---|---|
| Techniques | Huile sur toile |
| Dimensions | 81 x 65 cm |
| Acquisition | Don de la Fondation pour la recherche médicale en hommage à Hélène Anavi, 1984 |
| Inventory no. | AM 1984-281 |
Currently at
Museu Picasso, Barcelone (Espagne)
as part of Ubu peintre. Alfred Jarry et les arts, 27 November 2025 - 05 April 2026
See on the Centre Pompidou's loan map in France and worldwide
Detailed description
| Artist |
Max Ernst
(1891, Allemagne - 1976, France) |
|---|---|
| Main title | Ubu Imperator |
| Creation date | [1923] |
| Domain | Peinture |
| Techniques | Huile sur toile |
| Dimensions | 81 x 65 cm |
| Inscriptions | S.B.DR. : max ernst |
| Acquisition | Don de la Fondation pour la recherche médicale en hommage à Hélène Anavi, 1984 |
| Collection area | Arts Plastiques - Moderne |
| Inventory no. | AM 1984-281 |