Max Ernst painted this Two Children Are Threatened By A Nightingale in 1924 using oil on wood and adding wooden figures to the picture and the frame itself. Interestingly the colors of the sky do not blend, rather they are staggered giving the viewer a realization of the looming darkness and how fast it is moving. The entire painting is surreal in feeling. The girl with the butcher knife, the fainted girl, and the man with the baby are all painted in black and white seeming to be from another time; they belong in this painting by character only not by appearance. Though the colors of the building, fence, and background are in contrast they also compliment each other in that they are faded to pastel. There is great definition in foreground and background which adds to the surreal effect of the painting . Ernst has a very unique quality of design in this piece. Not only is he very blunt about what is real and what is not (aka. the foreground "real" objects and the background "imagined" objects) but he also gives a very blunt assessment of fantasy and reality to the viewer. Having the fence, the house, and the knob as actual physical objects outside of the painting and physically hanging off the frame gives this perception of moving out of a dream and being able to feel what is around you. The way the painting is organized can make the viewer read it in one of two ways. It can be read from the open fence gate through the yard and the background to the house and the man who is running away. Or, the painting can be read from the dark sky down, fading from the darkness of night into the light of dusk and the imaginary scene below only adding to the surreal effect of the image.
After researching Max Ernst and Two Children Are Threatened By A Nightingale I interpreted the meaning of this painting to be that of a nightmare. This piece was painted after Ernst' sister's death in 1897. After the tragic loss Ernst had hallucinations of an eye, a nose, a bird's head, a spinning top, and a menacing nightingale. All of his hallucinations can be found in separate works created by Ernst and collectively they weave the tale of the traumatic time he had after his sisters' death. I believe that in this painting Ernst was trying to tell the story of a nightingale that frightened a family of sisters and as one tries to fend off the nightingale with a butchers knife he gets away with the youngest of the group, a baby, while the middle child lay unconscious on the ground. I believe that having the objects gives depth, reality and fantasy to this piece.
Information taken from website of The Museum of Modern Art
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