Come into the Continents (Entre dans les continents) from Natural History (Histoire Naturelle)

Max Ernst’s Come into the Continents (Entre dans les continents) from Natural History (Histoire Naturelle) is a seminal work created in 1925. This piece is one of thirty-four unique images comprising the influential portfolio Histoire Naturelle, which was formally published in 1926. The portfolio is crucial to the history of Surrealism as it cemented the application of frottage, a technique Ernst himself pioneered just before its creation.

Frottage, derived from the French verb frotter (to rub), involves placing drawing material, often paper, over textured surfaces and rubbing with graphite or crayon to transfer the patterns. This automatic process allowed the artist, Ernst, to harness subconscious chance effects, providing an initial matrix from which he then developed the final composition. The resulting texture of the original rubbing was translated into this high-quality print via the meticulous process of collotype, a classification of photomechanical print that excels at preserving fine detail and tonality. The delicate, organic complexity of the rubbings suggests strange, topographical forms or geological stratification, successfully blurring the lines between abstract automatism and figurative representation.

As a leading figure in the French Surrealist movement, Ernst sought methods to bypass rational artistic control, treating the printed textures as psychological landscapes for subconscious exploration. These early examples of French modernist prints, created c. 1925, showcase his foundational mastery of mechanical drawing techniques that profoundly influenced subsequent generations of artists working in print media. This important work remains an integral reference for the development of Surrealist aesthetics and is currently held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), recognizing its significance both as a technical milestone and a foundational conceptual piece.