Max Beckmann was born on February 12, 1884, in Leipzig. He completed his studies in painting at the conservative Grand-Ducal Art School in Weimar with several accolades, initially dedicating himself to impressionist landscapes and figure compositions. In 1906, he received the Villa Romana Prize for his early impressionist work "Young Men by the Sea." That same year, he married painter Minna Tube and moved with her to Berlin.
During his voluntary service as a medic in World War I, Beckmann's style changed radically: In angular, somber drawings and etchings, he processed his traumatic war experiences and developed his unique style: marked by harsh contours, abrupt transitions, and fragmented forms. During this time, "The Night" of 1918/19 was created.
In the mid-1920s, his style became freer and more colorful under the influence of French painting. Theater, fairs, and cabaret became his preferred subjects. In 1925, Beckmann took a professorship at the Städel Museum's art school in Frankfurt and separated from Minna Tube to marry Mathilda von Kaulbach. During the Nazi regime, Beckmann, like many artists, was dismissed and emigrated with his wife to Amsterdam in 1937, and ten years later to the USA, where he taught at art schools in St. Louis and New York. He died of a heart attack in New York on December 27, 1950.
Max Beckmann is considered a master of modernism and a significant interpreter of his time. With his emotionally powerful paintings, he, along with Grosz, shaped the phenomenon of New Objectivity. A major theme is the portrait, both of himself and of his two wives, Minna Tube and Mathilda von Kaulbach. His later work includes symbol-laden, mythological triptychs that still pose mysteries today.
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