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Quote by Max Beckmann

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Self-Portrait in Words: Collected Writings and Statements, 1903-1950

This collection brings together a variety of the author's works, offering insight into their thoughts and experiences over nearly half a century. more

Author

Max Beckmann
Max Beckmann

German Expressionist painter and printmaker, known for his unique style and profound themes. Beckmann's works often contain symbolic elements, reflecting his deep thoughts on human existence. more

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“The individual representation of the object, treated sympathetically or antipathetically, is highly necessary and is an enrichment to the world in form. The elimination of the human relationship causes the vacuum which makes all of us suffer in various degrees - an individual alteration of the details of the object represented is necessary in order to display on the canvas the whole physicals reality.”

WorldHumansWholeRealityFormSufferingOrderIndividualCausesObjectsDegreesDetailsVariousTreatedDisplayCanvasRepresentationVacuumsHuman RelationsHuman RelationshipsEliminationAlterationsEnrichment
Book:Self-Portrait in Words: Collected Writings and Statements, 1903-1950
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“Colour, as the strange and magnificent expression of the inscrutable spectrum of Eternity, is beautiful and important to me as a painter; I use it to enrich the canvas and to probe more deeply into the object. Colour also decided, to a certain extent, my spiritual outlook, but it is subordinated to life, and above all, to the treatment of form. Too much emphasis on colour at the expense of form and space would make a double manifestation of itself on the canvas, and this would verge on craft work.”

ImportantUseBeautifulSpiritualFormCertainSpaceToo MuchObjectsStrangeExpressionDecidedEternityPainterCraftsManifestationColourTreatmentExpensesMagnificentCanvasEmphasisOutlookSpectrumVergeInscrutable
Author:Max Beckmann
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“As a painter, cursed or blessed with a terrible and vital sensuousness, I must look for wisdom with my eyes. I repeat, with my eyes, for nothing could be more ridiculous or irrelevant than a 'philosophical conception painted purely intellectually without the terrible fury of the senses grasping each visible form of beauty and ugliness.”

LooksEyeFormTerriblePhilosophicalBlessedRidiculousSensesPainterRepeatsVisibleConceptionIrrelevantUglinessFuryCursedGrasping
Book:Max Beckmann in exile
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“It is, of course, a luxury to create art and, on top of this, to insist on expressing one's own artistic opinion. Nothing is more luxurious than this. It is a game and a good game, at least for me; one of the few games which make life, difficult and depressing as it is sometimes, a little more interesting.”

LittlesArtSometimesCoursesGamesDifficultInterestingOpinionLuxuryArtisticDepressingLuxurious
Book:Self-Portrait in Words: Collected Writings and Statements, 1903-1950
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“Politics is a subordinate matter; its form of appearance constantly changes depending on the needs of the masses, the same way cocottes adjust to the needs of men by transforming and masking themselves. Because of that it is not fundamental. That is about what endures, what is unique, what is in the stream of illusions - what is eliminated from the workings of the shadows.”

MenWayNeedsMatterFormMassUniqueIllusionShadowFundamentalsEndureAppearanceStreamsTransformingSubordinates
Book:On My Painting - Max Beckmann
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“The world is rather shot to pieces [end of World War II - 1945], but the spectators climb out of their caves and pretend to have again become normal and customary humans who ask each other's pardon instead of eating one another or sucking each other's blood. The entertaining folly of war evaporates, distinguished boredom sits down again on the dignified old overstuffed chairs.. .May I report about myself that I have had a truly grotesque time, brim-full with work, Nazi persecutions, bombs, hunger, and again and again work - in spite of everything [a. o. using his bed sheets as canvas for the new paintings].”

WorldHumansMayWarEndsAsksPiecesBloodBedNormalEatingShotsHungerWar Of The WorldsBoredomFollyBombsReportsSpiteClimbsChairsWorld War IiEntertainingWorld War IAgain And AgainCanvasNaziSheetsPersecutionCavesSpectatorsDistinguishedPardonGrotesqueBed Sheets
Author:Max Beckmann
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