“The Fireside Angel” by Max Ernst, is a painting created in 1937, which depicts a creature looking for destruction.
This painting was politically motivated, as Max Ernst drew this in order to convey the chaos that Europe had experienced during the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Civil War caused Europe to experience the detrimental impacts of fascism, once the Spanish Republicans took the victory.
The main focus of this painting is the creature and the pose that it holds. The pose evokes a sense of chaos and destruction, as the creature looks as if it is about to stomp to leave its mark on this world. Ernst chooses an interesting name for this creature, The Fireside Angel. By calling this creature an angel, Ernst questions our beliefs about God and Christianity, as the depiction of an angel is usually something of beauty. Perhaps, Ernst is questioning the existence and support of God himself, as he expresses the chaos that Europe had experienced during the Spanish Civil War.
The color palette of this painting consists of many colors, but hues of red and brown seem to take up the majority of the angel’s body. Red often symbolizes danger and warning. Perhaps, this could represent how Ernst thought that God was not on his side once the Spanish Republicans took the victory. In a more explicit sense, since the angel represents chaos and destruction, red could be referring to how dangerous the event really was. The color brown often symbolizes heaviness. Considering how the angel’s legs are mostly brown and the legs seem to be doing the damage, Ernst could be referring to how detrimental the impact of fascism was to Europe.
Ultimately, Ernst uses his painting to visually express what Europeans were internally experiencing at the time of the victory of the Spanish Republicans and that the impact of the victory was to the extent where the existence of God was questioned.
