Perseus's Last Duty
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
unframed: 89.4 × 142 cm · framed: 125 × 178.5 × 8.5 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange
Accession Number
2013.7
Tags
About this artwork
This painting depicts Perseus, a celebrated warrior from Greek mythology whose name derives from the Greek word "to waste, ravage, sack, destroy." Perseus’s most famous feat was cutting off Medusa’s head. Yet, the mass slaughter depicted here is not found in the ancient myth, but instead suggests a nightmarish allegory filled with private, enigmatic symbols, perhaps reflecting Beckmann’s experience of barely surviving two world wars. Traumatized while serving as a medical orderly during WWI, Bec...