Analyzing John's 'Lomplop Introduces Loplop'

Loplop Introduces Loplop Loplop Introduces Loplop is a painting by German artist Max Ernst, completed in 1930. It depicts a grotesque creature with the head of a bird presenting a geometric caricature of itself, while a figure on the right looks on in horror. Ernst’s fascination with birds and his symbolic use of them gives a deep understanding of his complex inner world. When Ernst was fifteen years old, his sister Lola was born on the same day that his pet parakeet died. After the incident, Ernst began to correlate life with death. He also viewed birds as something divine; they were a symbol of freedom while humans were a symbol of control. The character Loplop (Superior bird) has appeared in several of Ernst’s other works. It is a manifestation of Ernst’s inner feelings of confusion. The beast’s amorphous, changeable form is representative of Max Ernst’s doubts about his sexuality and persona. The portrait that Loplop presents is made of straight, calm lines, and the background is flatly textured. The real Loplop sits in a dark cave with pockmarked walls. This discordance is strengthened by the figure at right, which is frightened by the real Loplop. Ernst is afraid to reveal his true self to the world, because he worries that society will not accept him.

He used free association, analyzed his dreams, and looked to past memories in an attempt to define his persona (Stokes 225). This introspection allowed him to discover an obsession with birds. They became a staple of Ernst’s style as an artist. At times the winged creatures represented something divine, a cherub or an angel. And in other works, it represented dragons or Lucifer himself. Art historians and psychologists have compared Max Ernst’s relationship with Loplop to the Freudian concept of a “token”, something that anchors a person to a certain mindset or