MAX BECKMANN

 

Max Beckmann was an important German artist of the first half of the 20th Century. Like so many others, he fled the Nazis and eventually ended up here. He worked and taught for the last three years of his life at Washington University in St. Louis. Our art museum has a major collection of his work, including a large room exclusively devoted to him. I think the floral arrangement refers to this picture, https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/13448/, not the one shown here.                

BECKMANN BLOSSOMS

The German Expressionist Max Beckmann was a star of his nation's art world a century ago. Along with that of many others, his work was condemned as degenerate by the Nazis. He went first to Amsterdam and then, in 1947, accepted a position at Washington University here. He developed a relationship with the retail magnate, art collector and philanthropist Morton May. One large room of our art museum is devoted to his work. This floral arrangement represents the painting on the left. The one on the right is a self portrait.             

Over The Shoulder

A self portrait of Max Beckmann glowers over a bursting vase. He taught at Washington University later in life and our art museum has the largest single collection of his work. There is a large room full of his paintings, which can be overpowering. The painting in the second shot is Portrait Of A Woman by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, a painter I know nothing about.