How did grattage create suggestive images on a painted canvas?

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René Magritte: Time Transfixed — Surrealism A visitor to the Tate Liverpool viewing *Time Transfixed*, oil on canvas by René Magritte, 1938; during the exhibition “Rene Magritte: The Pleasure Principle,” 2011.

Grattage is an artistic technique developed by the Surrealist artist Max Ernst that creates suggestive imagery through the manipulation of texture and chance.1

To create these images, an artist places a painted canvas over a textured object, such as a piece of wood or wire mesh. By scraping or rubbing the paint off the canvas, the artist reveals the underlying texture, which produces unexpected patterns.1

Ernst refined this process by carefully selecting the colors of the paint, the specific textured objects used, and the precise placement of both. By adding discreet details to these base textures, he was able to evoke otherworldly landscapes and creatures, as seen in works like Forest and Dove. This method, closely related to frottage, allowed Surrealists to embrace spontaneity and explore the unconscious mind.1