Picasso | Beckmann

Pablo Picasso (b. Ma laga, 1881; d. Mougins, 1973) and Max Beckmann (b. Leipzig, 1884; d. New York, 1950), who lived through the eventful years of the fin de sie cle, two world wars, and the dawn of the postwar era, rank among the most influential modernist artists and have shaped our perspective on the twentieth century like few others. Setting out from different starting points, they independently arrived at individual solutions to major problems in art, producing oeuvres that insistently probed essential questions of human existence. Despite their diverging creative visions, their positions repeatedly intersect in surprising ways. Although Beckmann spent time in Paris on several occasions, the two artists in all likelihood never met in person. Still, each took note of what the other was doing and responded to his work.

As part of the international project Ce le bration Picasso 1973-2023, which commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of Picasso's death, the Von der Heydt-Museum in Wuppertal and the Sprengel Museum in Hannover mount this pioneering exhibition bringing the two artists face to face on a broad basis. The comprehensive publication Pablo Picasso | Max Beckmann: Mensch-Mythos-Welt elaborates on the com- parative study of the two artists' oeuvres with essays by Antje Birthalmer, Alexander Leinemann, Roland Monig, Didier Ottinger, Olaf Peters, and Reinhard Spieler.