PORTFOLIO

Max Beckmann (1884-1950) is among the world’s most celebrated artists. His paintings can be found in all major museums. Defamed by the National Socialists as decadent, he spent years in exile in Amsterdam before finally emigrating to the United States after World War II. Less known is the fact that Beckmann was a great traveler. France and the seacoast around the French Riviera in particular were key sources of inspiration. But Beckmann was also a hedonist who loved residing in fashionable hotels and observing the guests. The film goes in search of biographical traces, and – for the first time ever – incorporates films made by Beckmann himself on his travels during the 1920s. His second wife – whom he affectionately nicknamed Quappi – preserved everything: postcards, which he collected, the enormous Louis Vuitton suitcase, hotel bills, passports. The film takes us on a captivating journey through time as well. During exile, the restless Beckmann found himself confined to the Netherlands. There, numerous travel motifs emerged from memory or were derived from little excursions in the local countryside. After resettling in the United States, he took up his passion for travel again, roaming along the east and west coasts via train. Many highly personal photographs from his estate show a man who radiated both joy and curiosity. A Beckmann utterly unlike the one we encounter in his severe self-portraits. We speak with his granddaughter Mayen, with the daughter of his Amsterdam galerist, as well as with museum directors and curators in Germany, France, and the United States. The documentary is being produced to coincide with the great Beckmann retrospective at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich.