In this microscopic painting, Ernst has, paradoxically, created a vast landscape. Despite the title, no figures of Adam and Eve can be found within the reticulated textures of the paint. Ernst was, perhaps, making ironic reference to a story that looms large in the history of art. He was probably also alluding to the move that he and his wife, artist Dorothea Tanning, had recently made from New York to the sandstone desert of Sedona, Arizona. The painting is one of several tiny works Ernst called “Microbes” and made, in part, because they could be easily transported.
Gallery label from Max Ernst: Beyond Painting, September 23, 2017-January 1, 2018.