Everyone’s pretty familiar with Max Ernst by now, right? Curators Werner Spies and Fabrice Hergott hope to offer a new perspective by playing down Ernst the painter in favor of Ernst the sculptor in a show organized around the artist’s numerous residencies (and the impact of changing surroundings on his sculptural forms). What unifies the work is Ernst’s good humor in pieces made during sojourns at the poet Paul Eluard’s in Eaubonne, at Giacometti’s home in Maloja, at his own home in Saint-Martin d’Ardèche, or even during stays on Long Island or amid the sandstone canyons of Sedona, Arizona. In the end, it seems taking time off in the country doesn’t hurt the art at all. May 6-July 27; travels to Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, Sept. 5-Nov. 28.

— Pascaline Cuvelier