1949, Max Beckmann, Beginning -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
From the museum label: Many modern artists were deeply interested in paintings from earlier centuries. Aptly titled The Beginning, this impressive work returns to one of the earliest formats of European painting, the three-paneled triptych. A common form for German Gothic altarpieces, the triptych's wings served a liturgical function and could be opened or remain closed at different moments in the church calendar. The artist's expressionistic brushwork and use of bright colors also look back to early German paintings. As a child growing up in Leipzig, Germany, Beckmann was especially fond of illustrating imaginative journeys. This work was completed in 1949, when the sixty-five-year-old artist felt the impact of both world wars and his exile from Germany. The three panels are autobiographical, returning to Beckmann's memories of his school days.
1949, Max Beckmann, Beginning -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
From the museum label: Many modern artists were deeply interested in paintings from earlier centuries. Aptly titled The Beginning, this impressive work returns to one of the earliest formats of European painting, the three-paneled triptych. A common form for German Gothic altarpieces, the triptych's wings served a liturgical function and could be opened or remain closed at different moments in the church calendar. The artist's expressionistic brushwork and use of bright colors also look back to early German paintings. As a child growing up in Leipzig, Germany, Beckmann was especially fond of illustrating imaginative journeys. This work was completed in 1949, when the sixty-five-year-old artist felt the impact of both world wars and his exile from Germany. The three panels are autobiographical, returning to Beckmann's memories of his school days.