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Impressionist & Modern Art
3228 MAX BECKMANN(Leipzig 1884 - 1950 New York)
Waldgracht mit Segeln. 1943.
Oil on canvas.
Signed, inscribed and dated lower center:
Beckmann A(msterdam). 43.
55 x 95 cm.
Provenance:
- Studio Max Beckmann.
- Gallery Günther Franke, Munich.
- Private collection, Liechtenstein.
Literature: Göpel, Erhard & Barbara (Ed.).
Max Beckmann. Katalog der Gemälde,
Bern 1976, vol 1, Kat.Nr. 638, S. 386 (ill. vol.
2, plate 229).
Painted in 1943, "Waldgracht mit Segeln"
was created in the most fruitful and inven-
tive phase of Beckmann's career while he
was living in Amsterdam. He and his wife
Quappi came to Amsterdam from Berlin in
the summer of 1937 when the "Entartete
Kunst" exhibitions were held in different
cities in Germany.
Beckmann called this time a "Zwischen-
station" and he retained some rather
ambiguous feelings from it. Despite these
difficutlies he created a third of his entire
work, 280 oil paintings containing five of
his important triptychs. During the war and
the German occupation, the artist lived
relatively free, which can be seen in the
offered painting. It shows a canal outside
the city where we see sailing boats. On
the bank of the canal we see a couple
sunbathing on a white ceiling. Below the
couple, which could be the artist and his
wife, we see a dark boat which was placed
on the shore in the shade of a flower bed.
It is never easy to interpret Beckmann's
very symbolically charged paintings, but it
seems that he wants to show us his "Zwi-
schenstation" here.
Beckmann himself was pleased with this
painting as he writes in his diary: "Monday,
12 July 1943. Finally Odysseus, Segelboo-
te in Waldgracht and Gelbe Frau in black-
white fur brought to one height. Content"
(translated fromGerman: Göpel, Erhard
(Ed.): Max Beckmann. Tagebücher 1940-
1950, München 1955, p. 54)
CHF 400 000 / 700 000
(€ 357 140 / 625 000)