The Elephant Celebes

Giorgio de Chirico was an inspiration for the early Surrealists, and Celebes' palette and spatial construction show his influence. Regarding the art of collage, Ernst said, "It is the systematic exploitation of the coincidental or artificially provoked encounter of two or more unrelated realities on an apparently inappropriate plane and the spark of poetry created by the proximity of these realities." The central focus of the painting is a giant mechanical elephant. It is round and has a trunk-like hose protruding from it. The figure's round body was modeled after Robert Schomburgk's photograph of a two-legged clay guinea corn bin from a West African culture, the Konkomba. The photograph was published in a travel memoir and in an anthropological journal. Celebes suggests "ritual and totemic sculpture of African origin", evidenced by the totem-like pole at right and the figure's bull horns. Ernst's creature has a frilly metallic cuff or collar, and a horned head and tail. The low horizon emphasizes the creature's bulk, and the gesture of the headless mannequin introduces the viewer to the figure. The mannequin wears a surgical glove, a common Surrealist symbol. This nude figure may have a mythological connotation, suggesting the abduction of Europa by Zeus while disguised as a bull. == History ==

The painting's short original title is Celebes, according to inscriptions on the front and back of the canvas. Ernst painted Celebes in Cologne in 1921. The French poet and Surrealist Paul Éluard visited Ernst that year and purchased the painting and took it back to Paris. Éluard would buy other of Ernst's paintings, and Ernst painted murals for Éluard's house in Eaubonne. It remained in Éluard's collection until 1938 and was then purchased by the English artist Roland Penrose. It has been in the collection of the Tate gallery, London, since 1975 and is displayed in the Tate Modern. The money from Penrose's sale of the painting was used to set up the grant-giving Elephant Trust which continues to administer bursaries to artists and small arts organisation in the UK. The back of the canvas is decorated with some doodles that are seemingly unconnected to the subject matter on the front of the canvas, including two figures holding golf clubs adjacent to the word "GOLF". == In popular culture ==

The painting was the inspiration for the naming of the Elephant 6 recording collective. According to Apples in Stereo frontman Robert Schneider, he chose the name because he was enchanted by the painting but misheard its title. ==Sources==