The artwork, “Illustration to ‘A Week of Kindness’,” was crafted by the artist Max Ernst in 1934 in Paris, France. This collage on paper belongs to the Surrealism art movement and measures 18 x 13 cm. It is part of the illustration series “A Week of Kindness” and is currently located at Staatsgalerie Stuttgart in Stuttgart, Germany.
The artwork presents a surreally surreal tableau, characteristic of Ernst’s collage technique. In the scene, there are several figures in what appears to be a nineteenth-century domestic setting. A woman kneels on the floor, her hands clasped, while two peculiar dragon-like creatures are positioned near her. Another central figure, a man dressed in traditional garb, looks down towards the floor, with his back mostly to the viewer. In the background, another man, seemingly an aide or servant, appears to straighten his attire. A distinguished-looking man, possibly an observer, stands slightly apart. The juxtaposition of Victorian-era human figures and mythical creatures, enhanced by the peculiar framing element of a painting within the artwork and its surreal narrative, embodies Ernst’s exploration of the irrational and the dreamlike in art.
