Argonauts (Sketch for Triptych and Study for Center Panel)
1946 and 1950
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
pen and black ink and graphite on paper with printed lines
Dimensions
overall: 24.2 x 18.2 cm (9 1/2 x 7 3/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Given in memory of Frederick Zimmermann by his wife, Dorothy Zimmermann
Accession Number
1985.18.19
Art Historical Context
Max Beckmann's *Argonauts (Sketch Triptych and Study Center Panel)* offers a glimpse into the German Expressionist's intense creative process during the turbulent post-World War II era. Created in 1946 and refined in 1950, this drawing captures Beckmann's fascination with ancient Greek mythology—the tale of Jason and the Argonauts—as a metaphor for human struggle and voyage through chaos. By then, Beckmann had Nazi persecution, exile in Amsterdam, and relocation to the United States, infusing his work with raw emotional depth and symbolic power characteristic of his mature style. Executed in ...
About the Artist
Max Beckmann
Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (1884-1950) stands as one of the most significant German painters of the twentieth century, a complex artist who bridged Expressionism and the New Objectivity while forging a deeply personal visual language. Born in Leipzig into a middle-class family, Beckmann's artistic journey spanned from academic classicism through the traumatic crucible of World War I to a mature s...