Max Beckmann, 1884-1950

Max Beckmann ranks among the outstanding artistic personalities of the 20th century particularly as a painter and draughtsman but also as lithographer. His masterful variety characterised by the strength of his figures and broad spatiality shows in striking portraits as well as in still lives and triptychs. The Städel Art Institute in Frankfurt where Beckman directed from 1925 onwards the master class, owns an impressive collection of his works. Likewise, one of the centrepieces of the New National Gallery in Berlin is the collection of Max Beckmann paintings. Moreover, picture cycles of the Leipzig-born artist, rated as degenerate by the Nazis and who finally emigrated to the USA, constitute one of the focal points of the Collection of Classical Modern Art of the Sprengel Museum in Hannover.