Bar Brown 1944

Max Beckmann made this painting, Bar Brown, with oil on canvas. The surface here is thick with strokes of black, white, ochre, and sienna which together create a claustrophobic vision of modern life. It is as though each mark is made with a kind of anxious energy. The touch of the brush feels very present and you can almost see his hand moving, building up the figures from dabs and dashes of paint. The colour is both lurid and muted, heightening the sense of unease. Just look at the man’s hand against the woman's shoulder: the way the artist has rendered it with thick, almost brutal marks, makes it appear both protective and possessive. Beckmann’s work is very different to his contemporary Picasso, but I often wonder if he saw Picasso’s Blue Period and thought about how he might paint something similarly emotional, with his own spin on it. Art is always a conversation like that. Anyway, this is a painting that embraces ambiguity and refuses to be pinned down.