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Lot Essay
Beckmann made several visits to the Spa at Baden-Baden in the 1930s. It was here that he executed Waldweg in Schwarzwald in 1936.
This was the artist's last year in Germany before his departure first to Amsterdam in 1937, and then to the U.S.A in 1947. Beckmann underwent a harsh and difficult period from 1933, when the National Socialist came to power in Germany. Championed, up to that point, by the greatest dealers, such as Paul Cassirer, J. B. Neumann or Albert Flechtheim, Beckmann was forced to leave his teaching position at the Städelisches Kunstinstitut of Frankfurt and his work was declared 'degenerate' and removed from museums.
The present picture represents a woman and a man pushing a wagon, on a path in the Schwarzwald, a forest next to Baden-Baden. A related picture, also depicting the Schwarzwald, is housed in the Wallraf-Richardz Museum, Cologne (fig. 1). These two pictures reflect Beckmann's concern for allegory and symbolism. The path is a metaphor for human life and its difficulties, and the two figures, experiencing immense difficulty pushing the wagon, are a symbol of life's trauma. Beckmann expressed his inner preocupations and anxiety, which he had to face in this confused time of his life, in a vivid palette of greens applied in violent brushstrokes.
The representation of Nature as a release to his anxietes was clearly illustrated when Beckmann wrote in "Die unendliche Meere, die wilden Felsen, die melancholische Sprache der schwarzen Bäume im Schnee , die wilde Kraft der Frhlingsblumen und die schwere Lethargie des heissen Sommerstag, wenn Pan, unser alter Freund schläft und die Mittagsgespenster sprechen. das ist schon genug, um das Leid der Welt zu vergessen oder zu gestalten. Der Wille zur Gestalt träft auf alle Fälle einen Teil der Erlösung in sich..." (Briefe an eine Malerin, 3.2.48).
The picture belonged to Karl Buchholz, Beckmann's dealer in Berlin. He contributed to Beckmann's renown in the USA even before the artist's arrival there. His assistant Curt Valentin went in 1937 to New York to safeguard a portion of his employer's capital from the National Socialists. Here he opened a gallery, where Beckmann's work was frequently exhibited.
This was the artist's last year in Germany before his departure first to Amsterdam in 1937, and then to the U.S.A in 1947. Beckmann underwent a harsh and difficult period from 1933, when the National Socialist came to power in Germany. Championed, up to that point, by the greatest dealers, such as Paul Cassirer, J. B. Neumann or Albert Flechtheim, Beckmann was forced to leave his teaching position at the Städelisches Kunstinstitut of Frankfurt and his work was declared 'degenerate' and removed from museums.
The present picture represents a woman and a man pushing a wagon, on a path in the Schwarzwald, a forest next to Baden-Baden. A related picture, also depicting the Schwarzwald, is housed in the Wallraf-Richardz Museum, Cologne (fig. 1). These two pictures reflect Beckmann's concern for allegory and symbolism. The path is a metaphor for human life and its difficulties, and the two figures, experiencing immense difficulty pushing the wagon, are a symbol of life's trauma. Beckmann expressed his inner preocupations and anxiety, which he had to face in this confused time of his life, in a vivid palette of greens applied in violent brushstrokes.
The representation of Nature as a release to his anxietes was clearly illustrated when Beckmann wrote in "Die unendliche Meere, die wilden Felsen, die melancholische Sprache der schwarzen Bäume im Schnee , die wilde Kraft der Frhlingsblumen und die schwere Lethargie des heissen Sommerstag, wenn Pan, unser alter Freund schläft und die Mittagsgespenster sprechen. das ist schon genug, um das Leid der Welt zu vergessen oder zu gestalten. Der Wille zur Gestalt träft auf alle Fälle einen Teil der Erlösung in sich..." (Briefe an eine Malerin, 3.2.48).
The picture belonged to Karl Buchholz, Beckmann's dealer in Berlin. He contributed to Beckmann's renown in the USA even before the artist's arrival there. His assistant Curt Valentin went in 1937 to New York to safeguard a portion of his employer's capital from the National Socialists. Here he opened a gallery, where Beckmann's work was frequently exhibited.