Painting Collection


Max Beckmann

Green Sea with Yellow Boat

 

(1884—1950)
Green Sea with Yellow Boat
1937
oil on canvas
19 3/4 x 28 1/4 inches

In 1915, Max Beckmann wrote in a letter to his first wife, Minna: “If I were the Emperor of the World, I would claim as my foremost right the ability to spend one month every year alone on a beach.” Drawn to the sea throughout his life, Beckmann painted this beach scene in 1937, showing couples sunning in the sand, a sailboat on the waves, and a group frolicking in the surf. The figures are rough and fragmented, defined by heavy black outlines indicative of Beckmann’s painting style. However, the sunny disposition of this work does not reflect the moment in which it was made. Beckmann painted this picture in 1937, the year he was deemed a “degenerate” artist by the Nazis, resulting in his inclusion in the infamous Degenerate Art exhibition and the removal of more than 500 of his works from public collections. By July of that year, Beckmann had fled Germany with his wife and landed in Amsterdam, where they remained throughout World War II. The intense pressure Beckmann faced during this time is not reflected in this painting, yet the work offers a glimmer of optimism, and perhaps an attempt to recall a more peaceful time through the artist’s view of the sea.


 

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