Max Beckmann

Max Beckmann dreamed up a world of actors, cabaret singers, heroes, and thugs, whose dramas unfold on city streets, at masquerades and carnivals, and in candlelit chambers. The artist himself is often part of the action, usually costumed, but identifiable by his enormous head and scowling face. At a time when many of his German contemporaries were experimenting with abstraction, Beckmann resolutely pursued the possibilities of figuration and narrative, peppering his paintings with fragments of myths, bible stories, and opaque allegories—often interspersed with scenes and figures from his life.
After he received initial recognition for history paintings and portraits, with muted palettes, an impressionistic paint handling, and references to Old Masters like Michelangelo and Peter Paul Rubens, the course of Beckmann’s life and art shifted at the outbreak of World War I. He joined the medical corps, and at first he was energized by the turmoil of war, writing “my art can gorge itself here.”1 But the action soon ended for him after he had a nervous breakdown in 1915. Over the next decade, he captured the doomed Weimar Republic with acidic cynicism, creating jam-packed, riotously colored canvases populated by a cast of characters enacting the chaos of postwar urban life. He also focused on etching and lithography in these years, producing several black-and-white print portfolios, including Hell (1918–19), which features scenes of a devastated Berlin. The city’s inhabitants torture one another, clamp their eyelids shut, and dance frantically.
In the early 1930s, the National Socialist press began to attack Beckmann’s work, and in 1933, soon after Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, the artist was dismissed from his teaching position at Frankfurt’s Städel Art School, and his paintings at the Berlin National Gallery were removed from view. It was in this time of mounting terror and uncertainty that Beckmann began to paint the triptych Departure (1932–35), in which he has juxtaposed restraint and freedom, compression and openness, violence and refuge. Its outer panels are consumed by scenes of torture in a dimly lit theater, while in the center panel archaic figures appear on a boat in calm seas under a clear, bright sky.
In 1937, on the day after many of his works were included in the Degenerate Art exhibition, Beckmann left for Amsterdam, where he lived during World War II. He remained active in exile, turning to mythic, parabolic images unmoored from a particular time or place. In 1947, he was able to immigrate to America, where he taught in St. Louis and New York. Sharing his own mantra with his students, he often told them, “work a lot…simplify…use lots of color…make the painting more personal.”2
Introduction by Hillary Reder, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints, 2016
Max Beckmann to Minna Beckmann-Tube, April 18, 1915, in Max Beckmann: Self-Portrait in Words, Collected Writings and Statements, 1903–1950, ed. Barbara C. Buenger (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1997), 159.
Max Beckmann, “Can Painting Be Taught?” Max Beckmann: Self-Portrait in Words, Collected Writings and Statements, 1903–1950, ed. Barbara C. Buenger (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1997), 323.
- Introduction
- Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 1920s, he was associated with the New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit), an outgrowth of Expressionism that opposed its introverted emotionalism. His work became full of horrifying imagery and distorted forms with combination of brutal realism and social criticism.
- Wikidata
- Q164683
- Nationality
- German
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Teacher, Graphic Artist, Painter, Owner, Sculptor
- Names
- Max Beckmann, Max Beckman, Beckmann, m. beckmann
- Ulan
- 500024106
Exhibitions
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522: Responding to War
Ongoing
MoMA
Collection gallery
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Painting and Sculpture Changes 2013
Jan 1–Dec 31, 2013
MoMA
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Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900–2000
Jul 29–Nov 5, 2012
MoMA
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Printin’
Feb 15–May 14, 2012
MoMA
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German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse
Mar 27–Jul 11, 2011
MoMA
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Max Beckmann has
96 exhibitionsonline.
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Max Beckmann Orpheus before Pluto and Proserpina (Orpheus vor Pluto und Proserpina) from the illustrated book Eurydikes Wiederkehr, Drei Gesänge (The Return of Eurydice, Three Cantos) (1909)
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Max Beckmann The Departure of Orpheus from his Mother (Abschied Orpheus' von der Mutter) from the illustrated book Eurydikes Wiederkehr, Drei Gesänge (The Return of Eurydice, Three Cantos) (1909)
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Max Beckmann Orpheus at the Shore II (Orpheus am Meer II) from the illustrated book Eurydikes Wiederkehr, Drei Gesänge (The Return of Eurydice, Three Cantos) (1909)
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Max Beckmann Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis) (1911)
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Max Beckmann _Christ in the Desert (Large Figure) (Christus in der Wüste [Grosse Figur]) _ from Six Lithographs to the New Testament (Sechs Lithographien zum Neuen Testament) (1911)
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Max Beckmann The Baptism of Christ (Taufe Christi) from Six Lithographs to the New Testament (Sechs Lithographien zum Neuen Testament) (1911)
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Max Beckmann Christ and the Sinner (Christus und die Sünderin) from Six Lithographs to the New Testament (Sechs Lithographien zum Neuen Testament) (1911)
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Max Beckmann Samson and Delilah (Simson und Delila) 1911
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Max Beckmann The Sermon on the Mount (Die Bergpredigt) from Six Lithographs to the New Testament (Sechs Lithographien zum Neuen Testament) (1911)
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Max Beckmann Throwing Dice before the Cross (Die Würfler unter dem Kreuz) from Six Lithographs to the New Testament (Sechs Lithographien zum Neuen Testament) (1911)
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Max Beckmann The Last Supper (Das Abendmahl) from Six Lithographs to the New Testament (Sechs Lithographien zum Neuen Testament) (1911, published c. 1917)
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Max Beckmann Ulrikus Street in Hamburg (Ulrikusstrasse in Hamburg) (1912), dated 1913
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Max Beckmann The Café Admiral (Admiralscafé) (1911, dated 1912, published c. 1917)
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Max Beckmann Mink, Frontal, with Elaborate Coiffure (Mink von vorn mit grosser Frisur) (1913, published c. 1922)
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Max Beckmann At the Piano (Am Klavier) (1913, published c. 1922)
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Max Beckmann Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis) 1914, published 1918
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Max Beckmann Declaration of War (Die Kriegserklärung) 1914
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Max Beckmann Women at the Butcher (Frauen beim Fleischer) 1914
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Max Beckmann Night (Die Nacht) (1914), dated 1916, published 1918
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Max Beckmann Fallen Soldiers (Gefallene Soldaten) (1914)
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Max Beckmann Morgue (Das Leichenhaus) 1915 (published 1918)
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Max Beckmann Theater from the portfolio Faces (Gesichter) (1916, published 1919)
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Max Beckmann Theater for the portfolio Faces (Gesichter) 1916 (published 1919)
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Max Beckmann Woman on a Sofa (Fridel Battenberg) (Frau auf dem Sofa [Fridel Battenberg]) 1916 (published 1918)
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Max Beckmann Café (Two Old Women in Foreground) (Café [Im Vordergrund zwei alte Frauen]) 1916 (published 1918)
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Max Beckmann Self-Portrait, Hand to Cheek (Selbstbildnis mit aufgestützter Wange) 1916
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Max Beckmann Evening Party (Abendgesellschaft) (1912, published not before 1917)
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Max Beckmann Street II (Strasse II) (1916-17), dated 1917
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Max Beckmann Happy New Year 1917 (Prosit Neujahr 1917) for the portfolio Faces (Gesichter) 1917 (published 1919)
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Max Beckmann Model (Modell) 1911 (published c. 1917)
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Max Beckmann Portrait of Kasimir Edschmid (Bildnis Kasimir Edschmid) (1917)
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Max Beckmann Klara (1917, dated 1918, published 1918)
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Max Beckmann Street II, Female Head (Strasse II, Frauenkopf) (1916-17, published c. 1921)
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Max Beckmann David and Bathsheba (David und Bathseba) 1911 (published c. 1917)
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Max Beckmann Descent from the Cross 1917
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Max Beckmann Moribund Old Man (Sterbender Greis) (1913, published not before 1917)
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Max Beckmann Model (Modell) (c. 1917)
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Max Beckmann The Feast of the Prodigal Son (Die Heimkehr des Verlorenen Sohnes wird gefeiert) (c. 1918)
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Max Beckmann The Mocking of the Prodigal Son (Der Verlorene Sohn wird verspottet) (c. 1918)
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Max Beckmann The Return of the Prodigal Son (Die Heimkehr des Verlorenen Sohnes) c. 1918
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Max Beckmann The Prodigal Son Among Swine (Der Verlorene Sohn unter den Schweinen) (c. 1918)
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Max Beckmann Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis) from Faces (Gesichter) (1918, published 1919)
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Max Beckmann Weeping Woman (Weinende Frau) (1914, published 1918)
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Max Beckmann Descent from the Cross (Kreuzabnahme) from Faces (Gesichter) (1918, published 1919)
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Max Beckmann _Madhouse (Irrenhaus) _ from Faces (Gesichter) (1918, published 1919)
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Max Beckmann Main River Landscape (Mainlandschaft) from Faces (Gesichter) (1918, published 1919)
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Max Beckmann The Yawners (Die Gähnenden) from Faces (Gesichter) (1918, published 1919)
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Max Beckmann _Café Music (Cafémusik) _ from Faces (Gesichter) (1918, published 1919)
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