Max Beckmann (1884-1950) was a German painter known for his depictions of actors, cabaret singers, heroes and villains in the harsh post-war urban life. His paintings convey boldness, desire and pain through sharply defined figures . Under the Nazi regime, he was forced to resign from his position as an art professor and his work was labelled "degenerate art".

Max Beckmann Biography

• Born February 12, 1884 in Leipzig, Germany
• Studied at the art school in Weimar from 1900 to 1903
• In 1906, he moved to Berlin and began working as a painter.
• He served in World War I, an experience that had a profound impact on his art.
• In the 1920s, he was active as a representative painter of the New Objectivity movement.
• In 1933, he was fired from his teaching job by the Nazi regime, who deemed his work "degenerate art."
• Moved to Amsterdam in 1937
• Moved to the United States in 1947
• Died in New York on December 27, 1950 (aged 66)

Representative works

• Self-Portrait at Night (1940)
• Triptych: Departure (1932-1935)
• Karneval (1920)

Beckmann's style and achievements

Beckmann's work is characterized by strong colors, distorted forms, and symbolic motifs. Inspired by his experiences during World War I, he portrayed the absurdity of human existence and the contradictions in society in allegorical terms.

His masterpiece, "Triptych: The Departure," expresses the complex emotions of anxiety and hope that foreshadow the persecution by the Nazi regime , while "Carnival" satirizes the decadent postwar society through masked people.

Although Beckmann was not particularly well-regarded during his lifetime, after his death his work was reevaluated and he came to be recognized as one of Germany's leading painters of the 20th century. His works, with their powerful expressions and profound insight into human nature, continue to send powerful messages to us in the modern era.