signed and dated ‘[19]28/6’ (recto)
waxed black chalk and grey wash
22 x 20 cm

Throughout art history, dreams whether – nightmarish or revelatory – have been an important source for artists. Interest in dreams reached its peak in the beginning of the 20th century with the emergence of the Surrealist movement shortly after the First World War. In his Manifeste du surréalisme, André Breton recounted that “Reportedly, in times gone by. Saint-Pol-Roux used to have a sign posted on the door of his manor house in Camaret every mnight before he went to sleep, which read ‘the poet is working.’” – an idea fundamental to the Surrealist ethos. Bréton believed in ‘the future resolution of these two apparently so contradictory states, dream and reality, into a kind of absolute reality, into surreality’. His manifesto, among others, became highly influential, and Surrealism left a profound mark on the art of its time.
Karl Wolf, who was born, lived, and worked in Munich throughout his life, was one of many artists who explored this surreal or dreamlike world in his work. The present drawing, along with the one that follows, was created just four years after Bréton’s manifesto and is deeply rooted in its ideology. These works also bring to mind the drawings of Victor Hugo, in which ghosts and dreams seem to emerge from ink blots and smudges and are thus also a continuation of a tradition that reached deep into the history of art.