Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a german painter, printmaker and sculptor. He was an important member of the dada and the surrealist movements.
He studied philosophy and had no formal training in art.
Max Ernst served in the World War I and after that he lived in Cologne. There he met Arp the founder of Dada.
Ernst was the inventor of the frottage, one of the techniques used by the surrealists to create their paintings.
He left the surrealist group in 1939 due to differences with Andre Breton.
He had a relationship with british surrealist painter Leonora Carrington.
In 1954, Ernst won the painting Prize in the Venezia Biennale.