Max Beckmann is one of the towering figures of 20th-century art. Considered the most important German artist of his time, his extensive oeuvre includes over 1,000 paintings and works on paper, but only eight sculptures—a small group of bronzes begun at age 50. Beckmann remained a figurative artist throughout his career, depicting the world around him with unparalleled intensity.

Beckmann served in the war as a medical orderly, a traumatic experience that inspired him to turn in the 1920s to religious subjects and a distorted style aligned with the cold realism of New Objectivity. He enjoyed great success and acclaim until the rise of the Nazis in 1933 when modern art came under attack. The regime stripped him of his professorship at the Frankfurt Art Academy, removed his works from museum collections, and declared his work "degenerate," prompting him to escape with his wife Quappi to Amsterdam, where they remained in exile until 1947.

Beckmann created over 80 traditional self-portraits—more than any artist since Rembrandt—and tucked countless images of himself into his paintings and prints. He modeled this larger than life-size Self-Portrait in his studio in Berlin on the eve of his departure from Germany. Beckmann depicts his highly recognizable visage—large, round head, receding hairline, and intensely focused eyes—which confidently commands the viewer’s attention. The broad, expressive mouth, its corners turned down, seems poised to speak a weighty truth. The eyes, coolly fixed on the distance, reveal the reserved gaze of an observer, not of a man of action. The sculpture’s heft alone testifies to a vital force that is hard to suppress. Of his eight sculptures, Self-Portrait is the most well-known.

LACMA is known internationally for its collection of German Expressionist paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and research library. Self-Portrait will play an important role in the museum’s distinguished collection and will be on view soon in the Modern Art Galleries in BCAM, Level 3.

During our 39th annual Collectors Committee Weekend (April 26–27, 2025), members of LACMA's Collectors Committee generously helped the museum acquire six works of art spanning a breadth of eras and cultures. Read more about all the acquisitions.