Max Beckmann has come to be considered as one of the classics of modernism, on a par with Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.
Despite his mastery of painting, modelling and graphics, his works – which are disturbing, enigmatic and sensual – continue to be a challenge for the viewer. And yet it is astonishing that his work is still relatively unknown in the Italian cultural world, and the only exhibition worthy of note was held at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome over twenty years ago.
The 30 oil paintings, 17 watercolours, 80 graphic works and 2 sculptures carefully selected for the retrospective exhibition at the Museo d’arte Mendrisio will at last make it possible not only to rediscover the main chapters in the work of this unique artist, but also to retrace his artistic career through all the media he used.
It will also be a rare opportunity to admire a good number of his exceptional graphic works, which he created mainly between 1917 and 1925, and after the Second World War. These were decisive in the way they expressed the new idea of space in the artist’s mature style, balanced between dream and reality.
On his artistic journey, Beckmann rose to soaring heights and encountered periods of abysmal decline. Born in Leipzig in 1884, he studied at the Academy in Weimar from 1900 to 1903. In 1908 he exhibited at the Secession in Berlin, where he lived until 1915. He rapidly rose to fame with a form of painting that was still indebted to a traditional, late-Impressionist style. The profound physical and psychic shock of the First World War, however, made him turn to Modernist painting, and especially that of France. After moving to Frankfurt, he again made a name for himself in the 1920s, but already in 1933 the National Socialists forced him to quit his teaching position and he soon fell into obscurity. In 1937, after his art had been branded as “degenerate”, he opted for exile without further ado, first in Holland and later in the United States, where he settled definitively in 1947.
In the 1930s and 1940s, he painted his famous self portraits, and his mythological and biblical scenes, as well as still lifes and landscapes.
His life and times, including his fame and marginalisation, find expression in breath-taking works, which are often enigmatic and filled with symbolism, always with great self-assurance in his use of colour.
His final years in America brought renewed fame, and his style evolved towards greater synthesis, with the use of more intense colours.
Max Beckmann died suddenly in Central Park in New York in 1950, while on his way to see one of his works on show at the Metropolitan Museum.

OPENING TIMES :
Tuesday - Friday 10 am - noon / 2 pm - 5 pm
Saturday - Sunday 10 am - 6 pm
ADMISSION 12.- / 10.-
Free admission for school classes & for children under 16
Guided tours (booking required)
Museo d'arte Mendrisio CHF 100.-
Supplement off hours
Museo d'arte Mendrisio CHF 100.-

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