Max Beckmann Retrospective at Museo d’arte Mendrisio

The Museo d’arte Mendrisio presents a major retrospective dedicated to German painter Max Beckmann (Leipzig, 1884 – New York, 1950), considered alongside Picasso and Matisse as a leading figure of modern art. The exhibition traces his career from early works balancing late Impressionism and Expressionism, marked by social critique and violent brushwork, to his mature style after World War I and the rise of Nazism. Beckmann’s art was condemned as “degenerate” by the Nazis in 1937, prompting his exile first to Amsterdam and later to New York. During his decade in the Netherlands, his work incorporated mythological and allegorical elements influenced by Rembrandt and Bosch, culminating in a definitive Expressionist phase. The show includes a notable selection of self-portraits, among them Autoritratto su sfondo verde con camicia verde (1938–39), one of over 200 he produced. Themes range from everyday objects like mirrors, flowers, and musical instruments to landscapes inspired by travels in southern Europe and coastal Italy and France. The exhibition is organized chronologically and thematically, curated with the contribution of Siegfried Gohr, a leading Beckmann scholar, and supported by the Beckmann family. It also features works in watercolor, graphic art, and sculpture, highlighting Beckmann’s versatility.