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 will – for the first time – explore 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 will be 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?

Max Beckmann and Kunstmuseum Den Haag Max Beckmann occupies a unique place in West European art history. His expressive paintings and focus on the internal suggest that he owes a lot to German expressionism. His vision of painting, which to his way of thinking could only be figurative, also signifies an affinity with the new realistic tendencies that emerged after the First World War, the retour a l'ordre. These movements have traditionally been core elements of Kunstmuseum Den Haag’s collection. Between 1921 and 1926 the museum acquired five lithographs by Max Beckmann made in the period 1921-1923, the first time his work had been purchased in the Netherlands. It was not until after his death, in 1956, that a major retrospective of his work was staged in The Hague. The museum bought its first Beckmann painting for the collection, Small Café, Revolving Door (1944), that same year. In 2021 it bought a second painting: Bathers with Green Bathing Hut and Sailors in Red Trousers, painted in 1934 after a visit to the Dutch coast.

Universum Max Beckmann will feature a cross-section of the oeuvre of a unique painter. It will show the world through the eyes of Max Beckmann who, through his unique, personal visual language and idiosyncratic treatment of space, gave meaning to the chaos of the modern world around him.

Catalogue A lavishly illustrated catalog (in Dutch) has been published to accompany the exhibition with contributions from, among others, Daniel Koep (Head of Exhibitions, Kunstmuseum The Hague), Thijs de Raedt (Curator, Kunstmuseum The Hague), Oliver Kase (Head of Modern Art, Pinakothek Munich) and Vera de Lange (Film historian). The catalog is published by Waanders. €29.95