Max Ernst

La Joie de vivre [The Joy of Life]

previous next

About this artwork

This is one of a number of so-called 'jungle' pictures that Max Ernst painted in the late 1930s. His paintings of forests and tangled undergrowth derive from the rich Romantic heritage in German art. They also symbolise the fears and suppressed desires of the human mind. Looking at the picture more closely, the title becomes bitterly ironic. This jungle is actually ordinary undergrowth grown to enormous proportions, dwarfing a sculpture of a woman and animal living together in harmony. Instead of a paradise, the scene is a nightmarish one in which giant praying mantises do battle with other monsters in the entangled undergrowth.

Updated before 2020

see media
  • artist:
  • title:
    La Joie de vivre [The Joy of Life]
  • date created:
    1936
  • materials:
    Oil on canvas
  • measurements:
    73.50 x 93.00 cm; Framed: 108.50 x 89.40 x 8.50 cm; 18.00 kg
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Purchased with the assistance of The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Art Fund, 1995
  • accession number:
    GMA 3886
  • gallery:
  • subject:
  • glossary:
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? Tell us what you think.

Max Ernst

Max Ernst