
Max Beckmann Descent from the Cross 1917
- MoMA, Floor 5, 514 The David Geffen Wing
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 59 1/2 x 50 3/4" (151.2 x 128.9 cm)
- Credit
- Curt Valentin Bequest
- Object number
- 328.1955
- Copyright
- © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- Max Beckmann has 219 works online.
- There are 2,456 paintings online.
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View the German Expressionism: Works from the Collection project
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Installation views
We have identified these works in the following photos from our exhibition history.
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Art in a Changing World: 1884–1964: Painting and Sculpture from the Museum Collection
May 27, 1964
2 other works identified
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Selections from the Permanent Collection: Painting and Sculpture
May 17, 1984–Aug 4, 1992
3 other works identified
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Deformations: Aspects of the Modern Grotesque
Feb 10–May 21, 1996
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Max Beckmann
Jun 26–Sep 29, 2003
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German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse
Mar 27–Jul 11, 2011
8 other works identified
In 2018–19, MoMA collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a project using machine learning to identify artworks in installation photos. That project has concluded, and works are now being identified by MoMA staff.
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This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.
The artist, Frankfurt; sold to Georg Hartmann (1870-1954), Frankfurt; returned to the artist [1]; sold to the Städelsches Kunstinstitut and Städtische Galerie, Frankfurt am Main, 1919 [2]; removed as "degenerate art" by the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, October 26, 1936 [3]; on consignment to Karl Buchholz (1901-1992), Berlin, 1938; to Curt Valentin (1902-1954), New York (sold April 21, 1941) [4]; Estate of Curt Valentin, New York, 1954; acquired by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1955 (Curt Valentin Bequest).
[1] The painting was first acquired by Georg Hartmann, but then returned to the Beckmann's studio, because it apparently upset Hartmann's wife (see Göpel 192, p. 134).
[2] Purchased from Beckmann under Director Georg Swarzenski in 1919 (Inv. no. SG 291).
[3] See Beschlagnahmeinventar "Entartete Kunst", "Degenerate Art" Research Center, FU Berlin). See Sara Eskilsson Werwigk, "Ein Gemälde geht ins Exil: Auf den Spuren der Kreuzabnahme von Max Beckmann," Uwe Fleckner, ed., Das verfemte Meisterwerk, Berlin: Akademieverlag, 2009, pp. 105-135). EK inventory number: 15933 (Kreuzabnahme). Included in the exhibitions Der Bolschewismus - große antibolschewistische Schau, Deutsches Museum, Munich, November 7, 1936-January 31, 1937; and Entartete Kunst, Munich (July 19-November 30, 1937) and other venues (Berlin, Leipzig, Düsseldorf, Salzburg, Stettin, Weimar, Vienna). See Beschlagnahmeinventar "Entartete Kunst", "Degenerate Art" Research Center, FU Berlin .
[4] Included in the exhibition Landmarks in Modern German Art, Buchholz Gallery, New York, April 2-27, 1940 (no. 1).
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