Max Ernst's "Un Semain de Bonte." (1 point)

 It was tough to come up with some logical story in my mind after reading Max Ernst's "Un Semain de Bonte."

The first part about the rooster laughter is very surrealistic, and many pictures don't create a clear idea in my head, but I think that is what the author wanted. This novel should be personal to every reader, and everyone will "understand" something in these pictures that only they can assume.

What did I see in this story?

Well, in every picture, there is a rooster, a small and normal one, or a human-like one. And it looks like women are afraid of these roosters. In some images, they are standing close to the woman's grave. In another, they take a woman by force, and in one, they even are torturing them.

So it might be a story about witches and the inquisition that was catching, torturing, and killing a lot of women. 

Another idea is that these roosters are like attitude, bad ideas, events, or thoughts inside human brains. That makes people act aggressively, like roosters. Because in the last part woman is shooting in each other with the feathers in their heads. And maybe all the terrible things that happen in the pictures are because of the rooster thoughts. The last image also reminded me of the French revolution, so perhaps there is something about that too.

The second part calls Eastern Island, which is about a statue from the Eastern Island. And in this story, I saw that the Eastern man tries to be a gentleman in the society, but gets too many temptations, like women, food, and drinks. In the end, because of it, he becomes a savage for society. Another idea is that even a man made of stone can't avoid falling into temptations in our society. 

But these are only my thoughts. And I am wondering what the artist himself was thinking while creating such fantastic and surreal creation? 

- Aleksandra Ferentc