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Of This Men Shall Know Nothing

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Von diesem wissen Männer nichts
English: Of This Men Shall Know Nothing
ArtistMax Ernst
Year1923
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions81 cm × 64 cm (32 in × 25 in)
LocationTate Gallery, London

Of This Men Shall Know Nothing (German: Von diesem wissen Männer nichts) is oil on canvas painting by a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet Max Ernst. The painting was completed in 1923 in Paris, France. It is created in a Surrealism style by use of symbolic painting genre during First French period. The painting measures 81 by 64 centimeters and is now housed at Tate Liverpool.[1]

Description

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The painting shares several features with Silberer's diagram: its landscape setting and low horizon; the gradation of the sky from light at the bottom to dark at the top; and the inclusion of the Sun and the Moon. Ernst replaced the cube of Primal Matter with a pile of entrails.[2] Elsewhere Ernst also employed alchemical motifs, such as in this painting of the sexual conjunction of Sun and Moon.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Tate. "Max Ernst: Men Shall Know Nothing of This, 1923 – Display at Tate Liverpool". Tate. Retrieved 2019-09-09.
  2. ^ Alchemy in contemporary art by Urszula Szulakowska, ISBN 0-7546-6736-7
  3. ^ Max Ernst and alchemy: a magician in search of a myth, by M. E. Warlick, ISBN 0-2927-9136-4