Max Ernst (1891-1976)

Boris Evgenievich Kochno or Kokhno (1904 -1990) was a dancer, librettist and lover of Sergei Diaghilev. His Ballets Russes premiered the Roméo et Juliette at the Opéra de Monte Carlo on 5 May 1926, for which Joan Miró designed the costumes and Ernst created the scenery and curtains. Two weeks later it was staged at the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt in Paris.
According to Jürgen Pech, the inscription 'Monte Carlo' and the date '1925' on the back of the work were added by Max Ernst at a later date. A certificate from the artist, which accompanies the work and was probably issued in the 1960s, indicates that Ernst did not remember the exact date of execution: in the last line he filled in first 1927 and corrected it afterwards in 1925. However the work on the ballet Roméo et Juliette took place in Monte Carlo in April and early May of the year 1926, allowing us to date the work to this period.