Editing Max Ernst (section)

==Early life==
Max Ernst was born in [[Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia|Brühl]], south of [[Cologne]], the third of nine children of a middle-class [[Catholic]] family. His father Philipp was a teacher of the deaf and an amateur painter, a devout Christian and a strict disciplinarian. He inspired in Max a penchant for defying authority, while his interest in painting and sketching in nature influenced Max to take up painting.{{sfn|Spies|Derenthal|Gaehtgens|Storr|2005|pp=285–286}} 

In 1909, Max Ernst enrolled in the [[University of Bonn]], to read philosophy, art history, literature, psychology, and psychiatry.<ref name="guggenheim">{{cite web |title=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/max-ernst |website=The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation |access-date=13 December 2021}}</ref> He visited [[lunatic asylum|asylums]] and became fascinated with the art work of the mentally ill patients; he also began painting that year, producing sketches in the garden of the Brühl castle, and portraits of his sister and himself. In 1911, Max befriended [[August Macke]] and joined his ''Die Rheinischen Expressionisten'' group of artists, deciding to become an artist.<ref name="guggenheim" />

In 1912, Max Ernst visited the Sonderbund exhibition in Cologne, where works by [[Pablo Picasso]] and [[post-Impressionist]]s such as [[Vincent van Gogh]] and [[Paul Gauguin]] profoundly influenced him. His work was exhibited that year together with that of the Das Junge Rheinland group, at Galerie Feldman in Cologne, and then in several group exhibitions in 1913.{{sfn|Spies|Derenthal|Gaehtgens|Storr|2005|pp=285–286}} In his paintings of this period, Ernst adopted an ironic style that juxtaposed grotesque elements alongside [[Cubism|Cubist]] and [[German Expressionism|Expressionist]] motifs.{{sfn|Ernst|Metken|Schneede|von Maur|1991|p=56}}

In 1914, Ernst met [[Hans Arp]] in Cologne. The two became friends and their relationship lasted for fifty years. After Ernst completed his studies in the summer, his life was interrupted by World War I. Ernst was drafted and served both on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western]] and the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Fronts]]. The effect of the war on Ernst was devastating; in his autobiography, he wrote of his time in the army thus: "On the first of August 1914 M[ax].E[rnst]. died. He was resurrected on the eleventh of November 1918".{{sfn|Spies|Derenthal|Gaehtgens|Storr|2005|p=xiv}} For a brief period on the Western Front, Ernst was assigned to chart maps, which allowed him to continue painting.{{sfn|Spies|Derenthal|Gaehtgens|Storr|2005|pp=285–286}} Several [[German Expressionist]] painters died in action during the war, among them [[August Macke]] and [[Franz Marc]].