Study for Left Panel of "Departure"
1932/1935
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
pen and blue ink over graphite on paper with printed lines and letterhead of "Hotel Frankfurter Hof"
Dimensions
overall: 29.6 x 20.9 cm (11 5/8 x 8 1/4 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
1985.18.4
Art Historical Context
Visitors to the National Gallery of Art encounter a fascinating glimpse into Max Beckmann creative process with *Study for Left Panel ofDeparture"*, a preparatory drawing from 19321935. Beckmann, a towering figure in German Expressionism and New Objectivity, crafted this amid the turbulent rise of Nazism in Germany. The triptych *Departure*—housed at The Museum of Modern Art—explores themes of exile, persecution, and human struggle, reflecting Beckmann's own impending flight from his homeland in 1937 the Nazis branded his art "degenerate." Executed in pen and blue ink over graphite on paper b...
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...