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The Dadaists were, in fact, quite concerned with the public's response to their work. They were out to shock. Not to shock for shocking's sake, but to shake people out of their complacent acceptance of the status quo. They wanted to express how the war and the threat of more wars to come had and was undermining the idea of civilised society. To return to pre-war values was, to them, a pretense, an artifice, the foundations of which seemed to have disappeared leaving society a bit like a chicken without a head. It looked like the real thing but was essentially dying and chaotic. Dadaist theatre and art focuses on the idea of the chaotic, using the subconscious mind with it's uncontrolled impulsive instincts and irrationality (madness) as their tools - as the only values, they felt, that had any real relevance to their society at that time.
But back to the point, I agree with you - I have been talking more about famous paintings instead of great paintings, and of course there is a difference. I do like the Max Ernst work. I do think it stems from a great and noble idea. As a painting I think it stands out above many other paintings so I am going to stick my neck out and say yes, it may well be a great painting. Ernst seems to love his craft and is skilled at it as well as being highly intelligent and pursuant of what in his gut he felt was the truth. I think his ideas are not only expressed through the images he made but also through - in a much less describable sense - the marks he made. There is an inimitable style in his work, and a resonance which, to me, seems the embodiment of his philosophy: his philosophy that is not fully able to be expressed in words. It is assimilated, perhaps, into his whole (including his bodily) existence. His ideas, his art, was his life and his life was his art and his philosophy. Everything he did, I presume, from the mundane to the outstanding was connected to his ideas. I think that's what makes art great - the expression of a life-directing and life-encompassing passion.
All the best to you to, Tom.
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