Two Children Are Threatened by a Nightingale (Deux Enfants sont menacés par un rossignol)

Two Children Are Threatened by a Nightingale (Deux Enfants sont menacés par un rossignol) is a pivotal mixed-media work created by Max Ernst in 1924. This piece captures the fraught psychological atmosphere of early Surrealism, an artistic movement deeply rooted in French culture following the collapse of Dada. The painting is technically complex, utilizing oil on wood combined with highly unconventional materials: painted wood elements and meticulously cut-and-pasted printed paper. The entire assembly is presented within an architectural wood frame, emphasizing its object status and blurring the lines between painting and relief sculpture.

The composition presents a scene of extreme psychological disquiet. Ernst renders figures and architecture in stark, exaggerated perspective, suggesting a dream logic rather than real-world physics. The titular nightingale, seen as a tiny three-dimensional wood element escaping the upper right corner, introduces the absurd threat that lends the painting its title. This innovative use of collage and assemblage techniques allows the artist to juxtapose disparate realities, transforming an everyday scenario into a deeply unsettling, yet rigorously controlled, vision of anxiety.

Completed in 1924, this work established Ernst as a leader of the new Surrealist aesthetic, moving beyond mere abstraction to visualize the subconscious narratives championed by André Breton. The piece demonstrates the artist’s mastery in translating psychic tension into tangible form through mixed media. Due to its historical significance and influence on subsequent generations of artists, the work is frequently reproduced, and documentation is often studied alongside early Surrealist prints and publications. This groundbreaking construction resides today in the prestigious collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).