About this artwork
In this depiction of a political meeting, Beckmann has included caricatures of some historical figures. Around the central figure of the speaker at the lectern, we have angry hecklers and a selection of figures who seem engrossed in their own thoughts. The man shown in profile under the lectern is Beckmann himself, but it is hard to read his expression to tell if he is bored or disgusted with the proceedings. This meeting of the supposed spiritual and intellectual leaders of the new post-war society looks completely shambolic.
Updated before 2020
see media-
artist:Max Beckmann (1884 - 1950) German
-
title:Die Hölle (Hell): Die Ideologen (Ideologues)
-
date created:1919
-
materials:Lithograph
-
measurements:87.00 x 61.00 cm
-
object type:
-
credit line:Purchased 1981
-
accession number:GMA 2465 F
-
gallery:
-
subject:
Max Beckmann
Max Beckmann
Beckmann was born in Leipzig. He studied in Weimar and Paris before settling in Berlin. At the outbreak of war he volunteered for the medical corps, but in 1915 suffered a nervous breakdown and was later discharged. After seeing the devastating effects of the war on the people of Germany and on the...