Max Beckmann.

In 1884, Max Beckmann was born into a middle-class family in Leipzig, Saxony. Beckmann is known for painting more self-portraits than any other artist. He painted subjects from the entertainment world, many portraits of family and friends, and compositions with characters symbolic of ancient myths. Beckmann was drafted into the First World War where many of his art emphasizes the emotions he felt while being in the war. In addition, Beckmann's work reflects an era of radical changes in both art and history. Many of Max Beckmann‘s paintings express the agonies of Europe in the first half of the Twentieth Century. Some of his imagery refers to the decadent glamor of the Weimar Republic's cabaret culture, but from the 1930s on, his works often portrays images of the brutalities of the Nazis. Many of his subjects and symbols assume a larger and deeper meaning; voicing universal themes of terror, redemption, and the mysteries of eternity and fate. Beckmann's work reflects an era of radical changes in both art and history. Many classify him as an Expressionist artist, however, he rejected both the term and the movement. Beckmann states that he was never influenced by any art movement, or the work of any artist. Although, in the 1920s, he was associated with the New Objectivity, an outgrowth of Expressionism that opposed its introverted emotionalism. Also, Max Beckmann rejected non-representational painting; instead, he took up and advanced the tradition of figurative painting. He greatly admired Cezanne, but also Van Gogh, Blake, and Northern European artists of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance such as Bosch, Brueghel and Matthias Grünewald. Incorporating landscape, still life, mythology, and the fantastic, his work created a very personal but authentic version of modernism. Although Max Beckmann’s reputation may not be as popular other artists, his originality and creativity in his art will always be something that defied the test of time.


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