Late December 1942, when Tanning heard knocking on a snowy December day she did not expect Max Ernst to be on the other side of the door. Having met the prior May and being in the same art circle, he came to show her pictures for Thirty Women (later changed to thirty-one women). As they were discussing her newest painting she revealed she did not have a name for the work until Ernst stated “Then you can call it Birthday” and there the title was. Once Ernst saw the chess board it was over for them (and their previous marriages) as they played until it was dark and several days passed same as the one before. Cycling between playing chess and doing advertisement illustrations, feelings began to blossom. In her book, Between Lives: An Artist and Her World, she states “That we were both painters did not strike me at the time as anything but a happy coincidence. In fact, so unbelievable it was, so touched with a kind of graceful humor…I told myself, yes, if it lasts three weeks it is still alright.” Birthday on its own is an amazing painting but the knowledge that this started a very successful and healthy relationship makes it much more than just a painting. 

Tanning, Dorothea. Between Lives: An Artist and Her World. Northwestern University Press, 2004.

“Dorothea Tanning and Max Ernst, Honolulu - Dorothea Tanning.” Dorothea Tanning - Painter, Sculptor, Writer, https://www.dorotheatanning.org/life-and-work/view/751/.