{
"data": {
"id": 162323,
"accession_number": "2002.55",
"share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
"tombstone": "Le D\u00e9jeuner sur l'Herbre, 1944. Max Ernst (German, 1891\u20131976). Oil on canvas; framed: 87.3 x 171.1 x 5.7 cm (34 3/8 x 67 3/8 x 2 1/4 in.); unframed: 68 x 150 cm (26 3/4 x 59 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 2002.55. \u00a9 1944 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ ADAGP, Paris",
"current_location": "225 German Expressionism & Surrealism",
"title": "Le D\u00e9jeuner sur l'Herbre",
"creation_date": "1944",
"creation_date_earliest": 1944,
"creation_date_latest": 1944,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"Germany, 20th century"
],
"technique": "oil on canvas",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Modern European Painting and Sculpture",
"collection": "Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Framed: 87.3 x 171.1 x 5.7 cm (34 3/8 x 67 3/8 x 2 1/4 in.); Unframed: 68 x 150 cm (26 3/4 x 59 1/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"framed": {
"height": 0.873,
"height_inch": 34,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.375,
"width": 1.711,
"width_inch": 67,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.375,
"depth": 0.057,
"depth_inch": 2,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.25
},
"unframed": {
"height": 0.68,
"height_inch": 26,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.75,
"width": 1.5,
"width_inch": 59,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0625
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": "\u00a9 1944 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ ADAGP, Paris",
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "signed and dated lower right: max ernst 44",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 205997,
"title": "Max Ernst: A Retrospective",
"description": "Max Ernst: A Retrospective. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (April 4-July 10, 2005).",
"opening_date": "2005-04-04T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 182153,
"title": "Monet to Dal\u00ed: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"description": "Monet to Dal\u00ed: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Beijing World Art Museum (May 26-August 27, 2006); Mori Art Center (September 16-November 26, 2006); Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007); Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (June 9-September 16, 2007); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 15-June 1, 2008); Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT (June 22-September 21, 2008); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 12, 2008-January 18, 2009).",
"opening_date": "2006-05-27T00:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Max Ernst. Julien Levy Gallery, New York City. (April 24 - May 8, 1944).",
"opening_date": "1944-04-24T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Max Ernst: Thirty Years of his Work, A Survey. Copley Galleries, Beverly Hills, CA. (January 10 - February 20, 1949).",
"opening_date": "1949-01-10T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Max Ernst. Galerie Ren\u00e9 Drouin, Paris, (1950).",
"opening_date": "1950-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Max Ernst, A Retrospective. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris. (1975).",
"opening_date": "1975-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Max Ernst: Retrospektive. Haus der Kunst, Munich. (1979).",
"opening_date": "1979-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Max Ernst. A Retrospective. Tate Gallery, London. (1991).",
"opening_date": "1991-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Surrealism: Two Private Eyes, The Nesuhi and Daniel Filipacchi Collections. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. (1999).",
"opening_date": "1999-01-01T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "William N. Copley, New York, acquired from the artist (1948); (Sotheby, Parke-Bernet, NY, William N. Copley Collection, Nov. 5-6, 1979, no. 51.); (Sotheby, Parke-Bernet, NY, Julien Levy Collection, Nov. 5, 1979, no. 50. ??) Daniel Filipacchi, Paris/New York",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "Scientific analysis of this painting shows that the black background was added last.",
"description": "This painting depicts the remains of a picnic on a cloth and a bottle of wine abandoned on the grass. Painted during World War II while the artist was in exile in the United States, the fish out of water has been seen as a symbol of suffering and the scene itself as a poisoned paradise. At the left Max Ernst painted a chalkboard, similar to daily specials in French restaurants. The text satirically alludes to \u00c9douard Manet\u2019s Le D\u00e9jeuner sur l\u2019Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass), 1863, a painting that shocked viewers when first exhibited but later became celebrated as an early example of modern art.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60478429"
],
"internet_archive": []
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Beyond Painting: And Other Writings. Translated by Dorothea Tanning and Ralph Manheim. New York: Wittenborn, Schultz, 1948.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 97",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Schneede, Uwe M. Max Ernst. Translated by R. W. Last. New York: Praeger, 1972.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 183, no. 357",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Max Ernst: A Retrospective. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1975.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 198, no. 205",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Quinn, Edward. Max Ernst. Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1977.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 241, no. 283",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Werner Spies, ed. Max Ernst: Retrospektive 1979: [Ausstellung, Haus Der Kunst Mu\u0308Nchen 17. Februar Bis 29. April 1979, Nationalgalerie Berlin 10. Mai Bis 15. Juli 1979]: Katalog. Mu\u0308nchen: Prestel-Verlag, 1979.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 321, no. 274",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Gimferrer, Pere. Max Ernst. New York: Rizzoli, 1983.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 126; Reproduced: no. 111",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Spies, Werner, Sigrid Metken, and Gu\u0308nter Metken. Max Ernst: Werke 1939-1953. Houston Texas, Ko\u0308ln: Menil Foundation; M. DuMont Schauberg, 1987.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 82; Reproduced: no. 2459",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Werner Spies, ed. Max Ernst, a Retrospective. London: Tate Gallery in association with Prestel, 1991.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 240, no. 212",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Derenthal, Ludger, and Ju\u0308rgen Pech. Max Ernst. [Paris]: Nouvelles e\u0301ditions franc\u0327aises, 1992.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 211, ill. 348",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Turpin, Ian, and Julian Stallabrass. Ernst. 2nd ed., rev. and enl. London: Phaidon Books, 1993.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 106-107, no. 38",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Weisberger, Edward, and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Surrealism, Two Private Eyes: The Nesuhi Ertegun and Daniel Filipacchi Collections. New York, N.Y.: Guggenheim Museum: Hardcover edition distributed by Harry N. Abrams, 1999.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 144-145, no. 84, Vol. I",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, \u201cMax Ernst Painting Featured Among Cleveland Museum of Art\u2019s New Acquisitions,\u201d June 25, 2002, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.",
"page_number": null,
"url": "https://archive.org/details/cmapr4457"
},
{
"citation": "Robinson, William H., and Margaret Burgess. \"Luncheon with Max.\" Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 43, no. 1 (January 2003): 4-5.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 4-5",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2003-01/page/n3/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Spies, Werner, Sabine Rewald, and Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.). Max Ernst : A Retrospective. New York, New Haven: Metropolitan Museum of Art ; Yale University Press, 2005.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 247, no. 143",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Russell, John. Max Ernst: Life and Work. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1967.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: no. 88; Mentioned: p. 347",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2002.55",
"images": {},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 162323,
"creators": [
{
"id": 8694,
"description": "Max Ernst (German, 1891\u20131976)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1891",
"death_year": "1976",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2002-06-03T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1944,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1944",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"Luncheon on the Grass"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-01 06:52:24.059000"
}
}