Exquisite Corpse

March 18, 1927

André Masson (French, 1896-1987)
Max Ernst (American and French, born Germany, 1891-1976)
Max Morise (French, 1900-1973)

The so-called cadavre exquis or exquisite corpse, a Surrealist visual game, was created in winter 1925–26, when members of the group gathered in the evenings. If conversation lagged, they invented games to spark the unconscious. The exquisite corpse grew out of one such invention, which reimagined the children’s game of “head, body, legs,” in which each participant adds to a drawing without seeing the preceding contributions, which are hidden by folding the paper. The results are strange, sometimes violent, combinations of images. The Surrealists produced many such drawings (the Art Institute has several; for example, 2018.333, 2018.334, and 2018.335), and these collaborative experiments were profoundly influential. The Chicago-based Hairy Who artists also played the game in the late 1960s, but with more playful results (for example, 2018.684, 2018.685, 2018.686, 2018.687, 2018.688, and 2018.689).

Status: On View, Gallery 397
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: André Masson
Title: Exquisite Corpse
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1927
Medium: Graphite and colored crayons on ivory wove paper
Inscriptions: Inscribed, verso, upper right, in red graphite: "Appt. André Breton"; inscribed and dated, verso, upper right, in graphite, in Breton's hand: "Max Morise / Max Ernst / André Masson / (18 mars 1927)"; verso, center right in black ink, in Breton's hand: ""CADAVRE EXQUIS" (18 mars 1927) / De Haut en bas: Max Morise, Max Ernst, André Masson"; signed verso, center right in black ink: “André Breton”; inscribed verso, lower left, in graphite: “600”
Dimensions: 20 × 15.5 cm (7 7/8 × 6 1/8 in.)
Credit Line: Lindy and Edwin Bergman Collection
Reference Number: 2018.335
Copyright: © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Ernst Katalog, vol. 3 (1976), p. 212, no. 1201 (ill.).
Dawn Ades, with Margherita Andreotti and Adam Jolles, Surrealist Art: The Lindy and Edwin Bergman Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1997), pp. 18 and 21, cat. 8 (color ill.).

Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, “Dada and Surrealism in Chicago Collections,” 1984–1985, p. 228 (ill.).

André Breton, Paris [inscription]. Sold by Galerie Furstenberg (Simone Collinet), Paris, to Lindy and Edwin Bergman, Chicago, 1961; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2018.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Suggested Terms

See all hours

On View

Date:

Artist:

About this artwork

Status

Department

Artist

Title

Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Medium

Inscriptions

Dimensions

Credit Line

Reference Number

Copyright

Extended information about this artwork

Publication History

Exhibition History

Provenance

Share

Explore Further

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Gallery actions

Image actions

Share