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Date: 1884-1950

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Description: Painted in Amsterdam in 1942.

oil on canvas

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Dimensions: 46.4 by 26cm.

18 1/4 by 10 1/4 in.

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Provenance: Peter Beckmann, Gauting (the artist's son)
Galerie Günther Franke, Munich
Theo Kotthoff, Cologne (1951)
Siefried Adler, Montagnola (1969)
Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York
Galerie Aenne Abels, Cologne
Private Collection (acquired by 1970)
Jan A. Ahlers, Herford

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Exhibited: Munich, Haus der Kunst and Berlin, Schloss Charlottenburg, Max Beckmann zum Gedächtnis 1884-1950, 1951, no. 129
Emden, Kunsthalle; Bielefeld, Kunsthalle; Frankfurt, Schirn Kunsthalle and Dresden, Albertinum, Expressionistische Bilder, Sammlung Firmengruppe Ahlers, 1994-1996
Laren, Singer Museum, Duitse Expressionisten, 1998, no. B4
Stuttgart, Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart and Württembergischer Kunstverein, Expressionistische Bilder. Sammlung Firmengruppe Ahlers, 1998-99, no. 39, illustrated in colour in the catalogue p. 16

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Published: Erhard and Barbara Göpel, Max Beckmann, Katalog der Gemälde, Bern, 1976, vol. I, no. 621, catalogued p. 375; vol. II, no. 621, illustrated pl. 223

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Notes: According to Erhard Göpel and Barbara Göpel (op. cit.) this work was signed Beckmann and dated A42 (upper right) but these inscriptions have become illegible.

In July 1937 Beckmann left Germany with his wife Quappi, and settled in a rented apartment and studio in Amsterdam (fig. 1), where he spent the following decade. Despite the artist's exile and increasing poverty, the war years were among the most productive of his career, accounting for one third of his oeuvre. For Beckmann, painting was a way of escaping the grim facts of everyday existence, and immersing himself in a brighter, alternative reality. During the Amsterdam period, he painted a number of colourful still-lives, café scenes and portraits of fashionably dressed figures, of which the present work is a powerful example.

Although depicting a scene from everyday life, unburdened by heavy connotations, Zwei Frauen mit Blume reflects the artist's inability to isolate himself completely from the reality of the war years. Although painted in bright colours, the image of the central figure is echoed in a mysterious veiled woman disappearing off the edge of the composition. Tightly positioned next to each other within the narrow shape of the canvas, the figures do not appear to communicate with each other, creating an atmosphere of anxiety and isolation. The narrow vertical shape of the canvas was frequently used by Beckmann in the 1940s, adding to the overall sense of tension and discomfort. Despite this undercurrent of claustrophobia resulting from the harsh reality of the artist's years in exile, Beckmann's works of this period reflect his undying optimism and creative energy.