Which surrealist artist painted 'The Elephant Celebes'?
Answer
Max Ernst
Answer
Max Ernst
Which surrealist artist painted “The Elephant Celebes”? Max Ernst painted it in 1921.
The oil-on-canvas work shows a huge, strange mechanical elephant dominating a sparse landscape. Its body was inspired in part by a photograph of a two-legged clay grain bin from West Africa, while the surrounding imagery includes a headless mannequin, fish, smoke, and other unsettling details.
The painting combines Dada’s interest in collage and found imagery with the dreamlike atmosphere associated with Surrealism. Ernst used realistic-looking elements in impossible combinations, creating the “spark” that Surrealists sought when unrelated realities were placed together.
The painting’s short original title was “Celebes,” the former European name for the Indonesian island now called Sulawesi. Paul Éluard bought the work in 1921, and it later entered Roland Penrose’s collection. Since 1975, it has been held by Tate in London. It is often confused with works by Ernst’s fellow Surrealists, but the painting’s canonical attribution is firmly to Ernst.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026