Portrait of Mink with Violet Shawl
Max Beckmann, 1910
Image not available: work still under copyright
This portrait shows Minna Beckmann-Tube, known as Mink, the first wife of German painter Max Beckmann, who painted it in 1910 while still in his twenties. The sitter is seated in a chair, dressed in black, with a violet shawl draped over her shoulders and arms and her hands folded in her lap. She gazes quietly to her left, and the bluish background keeps the focus on her figure. At this stage Beckmann worked in a restrained palette of sombre tones that recall German Impressionism, especially Max Liebermann, though without the loose brushwork of Lovis Corinth. The result is a conservative picture, close to realism, painted at a time when the young artist openly rejected modern trends such as Expressionism, Fauvism and Cubism. It is a sober portrait that shows Beckmann well before the style for which he later became known.
- Painter
- Max Beckmann
- Date
- 1910
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Museum
- Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis
- Genre
- portrait
- Depicts
- Minna Beckmann-Tube