agree with all of the above.

Carlyle Braden, Croydon, U.K/USA

Wow! that's grear. I love the colours. Looks a lot like the apocalyptic/ gothic art you get on some computer games ("Shaddow of the Beast" springs to mind).

V. Neblikov, Brussels, Belgium

It certainly has a "Germanic" feel to it. You can see that the artist has grown up and studied in a society that draws upon Durer and Grunewald in their history. Although it's a painting, it reminds me of those wood cut prints that were made in the middle ages, showing saints and devils.

Charlie, Newcastle, England

The whole image is both erotically charged and repellent at the same time. The figure of St.Anthony is being prodded and stroked by the obscene figures in a sensual way rather than a violent one. It is a wonderful, accurate and deep portrayal of temptation that is timeless.

Paul Rummery, St Leonards on Sea, Sussex

It´s tough to see in this photo, but the whirling mass of creatures and landscape is definitely a compositional wonder, more reminiscent of Flemish Renaissance pieces, like a Bosch or a Brueghel, than the Surrealist twentieth-century work this is. I´d love to see it up close...where is it?

yvonne indart, Havana, Cuba

It reminds me of my old school.

Simon, Sussex,

Maybe my eyes are going........The picture is too small for me to comment on.

Adam, Paris,

Fantastic-it has so much deep feeling-not like the Saatchi backed school of art produced these days!

Steve Firth, Bradford, England

Ernst was a genius, his photography and his paintings rarely get the credit they deserve.You do need to see these pictures close up to appreciate them, the textures are amazing. I personally am not a huge fan of this one ' The Temptation of St Anthony' but try to see 'The Robing of the Bride'

Bertie Van-Tahn, Northampton, England

It sends me a message of how humen have finally been completely taken over by our vanity and alter egos. Now the darkness are celebrating its victory. Katie, Oregon.

katie , porltand,

It has a slightly adolescent quality about it with all those creepy crawlies and proto-cybermen, also betrays mid-20th century Dan Dare aesthetic

Andrew Schofield, London,

Having seen this wonderful painting up close I must agree with previous posters; the image you present is way too small and dark for a meaningful appraisal. For example the fine feathery textures of the rock, rendered with Ernst's pioneering 'decalcomania' technique are impossible to see.

john cheall, Nottingham,

Dark, supposedly allegorical, and rather awful - as in bad, not terrifying...

Mark, Reading, UK

To matthew Epping,
I just saved the image and was then able to zoom in.Though a bit blurred, it did help.

Patricia, Chester, UK

Gruesome but skillfully executed.

Annie, Alton, Hants

The stylised Boschesque monsters are genuinely nightmarish, their expressions reflecting intense non-human urges, while I can almost feel the claws in the flesh of the unfortunate prostrate in their midst. And all this against a backdrop of degenerate destruction and ruin. Max Ernst was a genius!

Alan M Franck, Tunbridge Wells,

Would be easier to comment on if it weren't so small - Any chance of a bigger image?

Matthew, Epping, Essex

You realise that by making a comment, good or bad you are adding to the price an art gallery will undoubtedly pay. Tax payers will have a new orifice opened so that ithe gallery can afford it. Suckers!!

mike, Sydney, Australia

A very dARK piece of art from a very dARK mind!

Jimmy Hussein C, Letchworth, UK

Did a spider crawl across this canvas??

louis blanc, Liverpool, UK

Meat Loaf would like it.....

Colin, bangkok, thailand

There is nothing tempting in the painting - except the temptation to go to the nearest pub, or phone box with postcards, and find some real temptations that are worth struggling against and feeling guilty about if the flesh proves weaker than the spirit.

lawmack, Paris, France

It seems the man(or the monster)in red cannot escape from serving the other monsters around him as a big feast. I don't quite understand the title,anyway.

whj, Zhejiang, China

A wonderfully quirky nightmare, a perfectly realized vision from one of the greatest artists of the 20C. I believe that this is the work of a genius, containing a depth that reflects endlessly in the mind of the beholder, should we choose the invitation to enter.

Rob Crawford, Balmette, FRANCE

I think he should have changed his medication sooner. Or found another doctor if this is the result.

Mike, Hervey Bay, Australia

Looks like a lobster caught in some seaweed on the shore.

John K. Davis, Brevard, North Carolina, USA

It's typical one too many and the brush slips.
Peter Graves

Peter Graves, Lydd, UK

For valid answers, you need to present the painting closer to full size. It might be much better, or much worse than it appears - much of its detail and scope are lost in the tiny web-image. Not only such factors as brush stroke, but also the small inflections that inform expression

Timothy Bates, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Nightmare takes me back to a 70s album cover. Roger Dean could have done better

Bob, Goodsoil, Canada

Hieronymous Bosch has been there, done that, and got the t-shirt almost 500 years ago.

As The Preacher says, 'there is nothing new under the sun.'

Mick Sharpe, Market Harborough, United Kingdom

I see a man laid bare to the bone, carrying his loved one, protected from the world, I see fear in is face and his passing through a turgid decaying world where human nature is viscious and avarice. Its a world we would recognise if we looked harder at outselves and saw the strange creatures we are

A sutcliffe, doncaster, uk

Or... Its a skeleton carrying a great big lobster surrounded by other little pesky crustaceans..

A sutcliffe, doncaster, uk

It is in a style which is a caricature of classical paintings.

Nadir Imamoglu, Wolverhampton,

Creepy, provocative, imaginative and fascinating. I like it. I wish it was large so I could have a better look.

Gary Knigh, Bristol, UK

It kind of reminds me of the cover to the Moody Blues' 1970 album "A Question of Balance"-

Scott Benowitz, Rye, New York, U.S.A.