Galleria Cairola, Milan
Brook Street Gallery, London
John Perry Cohn, Santa Barbara (sold: Sotheby's, New York, 3rd November 2005, lot 332)
Private Collection (purchased at the above sale. Sold: Sotheby's, London, 6th February 2008, lot 380)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Pasadena, Norton Simon Museum of Art, 1979-81 (on loan)

Werner Spies, Max Ernst, Œuvre-Katalog: Werke 1906-1925, Cologne, 1975, no. 289, illustrated p. 146

The canvas is lined. Apart from a small area of retouching to the upper left corner and some scatterd spots of retouching on the horse and the front cow, visible under ultra-violet light, this work is in good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue illustration, although fresher and slightly less yellow in the original.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The turmoil of the war years profoundly affected Ernst, as he stated in his auto-biography: 'Max Ernst died the 1^st of August, 1914. He resuscitated the 11^th of November 1918 as a young man aspiring to become a magician and to find the myth of his time' (quoted in Robert Motherwell (ed.), Max Ernst: Beyond Painting and Other Writings by the artist and His Friends, New York, 1948, p. 29). Almost immediately Ernst was swept up in Dadaism, becoming an active member of the Cologne branch of this nihilistic and reactionary movement. Pferd und Kühe is a rare oil from this period, painted during the early stage of his involvement with Dada. The style in which he has depicted this scene perfectly encapsulates the off-kilter aesthetic employed by the subversive Dada artists. As Werner Spies stated: 'Things developed very quickly. In the first works of Ernst's Dadaist phase we can see certain features – most notably the scaffold-like, lacy structures of his compositions – that recall watercolours he painted in the trenches during the war. Allusions to mechanization, a mixture of telluric and machinelike forms, images of sky and fighter planes evoke the apocalyptic events of the war and his experiences at the Front. Even drawings that at first glance appear to be idyllic, on closer inspection reveal more ominous content' (W. Spies in Max Ernst A Retrospective (exhibition catalogue), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2005, p. 8).

The expressionistic elements of Pferd und Kühe, the hypnotic eyes of the animals, the dramatic palette of fiery red hues and scorched earth recall paintings by Heinrich Campendonk. There is also a direct relationship with the mystical dynamism of Franz Marc's works. The prescience of the horse and cows are akin to Marc's spiritual creatures, and stand as the embodiment of the natural forces in the world. The cows and horses are suffering the same fate as their farmer, who gathers a meagre harvest in the background. However, despite the overtones of struggle, Ernst has injected the present work with wit; the cows ൲engage the viewer in a sardonic, wryly amused manner, hinting that Ernst's imagination has anthropomorphised the animals in to critics and cynics, a strongly Dadaist comment on the state of post-war culture.