THE HAGUE.- Sharp angles, disconcerting perspectives, restrictive framing. Artist Max Beckmann used all kinds of techniques to manipulate space in his paintings. The painted surface was his domain. Painting allowed Beckmann to control reality, which he believed had both physical and spiritual dimensions. His unique depiction of space made him one of the most extraordinary and idiosyncratic artists of the twentieth century. In Universum Max Beckmann Kunstmuseum Den Haag is – for the first time – exploring his work on the basis of his depiction of space.

Universum Max Beckmann

Max Beckmann (1884-1950) filled his paintings with images and meanings that are not easy to decipher. He employed a unique visual language, which he developed using many sources (literature, religion, mythology) as well as his own observations. His paintings are charged, intellectual, spiritual. At the same time, however, German-born Beckmann was a sophisticated ‘man of the world’ who also incorporated modern influences into his work. He immersed himself in contemporary forms of amusement: the magical worlds of the theatre, circus and cinema were important inspirations for him. Technological developments in film literally offered new perspectives. Beckmann followed these developments closely, and this is reflected in the way he started to look at the world himself. Clips from several influential productions of the time are being shown in Universum Max Beckmann.

Max Beckmann’s paintings are in the traditional genres: portraits, still lifes, landscapes (including seascapes and cityscapes), and mythological and historical scenes. The innovative and modern aspect of his work does not, therefore, lie in his choice of subject, but in his treatment of it. He came to grips with the world around him by introducing and rearranging elements of reality.

The way in which he depicted – or in fact manipulated – space is unique. From his early monumental, traditional compositions, to his edgy framing, angular and disconcerting perspective, assemblages, cropping and unusual formats. Some of his paintings are feverish images, featuring innumerable objects and figures, often in sharply defined, claustrophobic spaces. Perspectives that cannot be seen in isolation from the life of the artist, and which resonate with the turbulence in Europe during and between two world wars. Are Beckmann’s paintings perhaps a response to the pivot in society? Were they his way of processing his own experiences, in the war and later, when he fled Germany?

Beckmann’s life

After formative periods in Weimar, Berlin and Florence, and the traumatic experiences of the First World War, Max Beckmann’s reputation as an artist grew rapidly. He lived in Frankfurt between the wars. There were publications and exhibitions featuring his work, he taught at the prestigious Städelschule, and travelled regularly to Paris and Berlin. A room dedicated to his work at Berlin’s Nationalgalerie – an honour no other living artist had received – was his crowning achievement.

But when the national socialists seized power in 1933, Max Beckmann’s success began to crumble. There was no room for progressive, modern painting in the Germany envisaged by the national socialists. Beckmann lost his position at the Städelschule, ‘his’ room at the Nationalgalerie was cleared, there were no more exhibitions of his work. Except, that is, for the ‘degenerate’ art exhibition, in which the national socialists showed what they thought art should not be. Beckmann and his wife Quappi fled Germany, never to return.

The couple came to the Netherlands, where he was relatively well known. He painted several seascapes here, in Scheveningen, Zandvoort, places he had fond memories of. They intended to travel on to Paris or, even better, New York. That was where Beckmann saw their future. There was also growing interest in his work there. But they were overtaken by events. Once the Second World War broke out travel became impossible, and they were forced to settle in Amsterdam, where they moved into a house with a studio.

This forced ‘isolation’ ushered in the most productive phase of Beckmann’s life. Here, in the Netherlands, during that period, he perfected his now instantly recognisable form language. Disconcerting compositions, filling the entire picture plane; ambitious compositions, imposing formats, figures and objects crammed together. He executed his paintings in vibrant colours that contrast sharply with his distinctive heavy outlines.

As the world descended into chaos, Beckmann continued painting. He had the contacts that enabled him to continue selling even during the war, mainly to collectors in Germany and the United States. The celebrated artist had less success in the Netherlands, and it was not until the end of the war that the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam purchased the important double portrait of Beckmann and his wife.

After the war, Beckmann was finally able to emigrate to the United States. He was given a position at Washington University in Saint Louis, and later also in New York. There, he received the recognition that he may have received earlier, had circumstances been different, acknowledgement that he was one of the leading figures of modern West European painting. Beckmann died in New York in 1950.