About this artwork
Beckmann based this print on press photographs of the Revolution. The revolutionaries are making a last stand against the government. The viewer's eye is drawn across the scene to the top left-hand side, towards an unseen enemy. The man seen in profile at the centre of the scene wielding a machine-gun appears to be Beckmann himself. If that is the case, it may be that the artist is supporting the cause of the revolutionaries; however, despite their noble cause, damage is still incurred, and injured and dying men lie on the ground.
Updated before 2020
see media-
artist:Max Beckmann (1884 - 1950) German
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title:Die Hölle (Hell): Die Letzten (The Last Ones)
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date created:1919
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materials:Lithograph
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measurements:87.00 x 61.00 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1981
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accession number:GMA 2465 J
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gallery:
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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...