Departure 1935

Max Beckmann made this painting, Departure, and it is made up of three panels, like a comic book, or an altarpiece. It’s hard to tell whether it's oil on canvas or gouache on paper, but the paint is put on in a way that is not trying to trick you into thinking that you're looking at real things. It's all about the paint, like Beckmann is saying, "Look at how I put this mark next to this other mark." What's interesting is the way he sets up this tension between these bold areas of color, like the orange cape, and the black lines that define all the shapes. The lines are firm, like he is not messing around. This makes all the figures seem trapped, even though there is this sense of motion, like the boat going out to sea. The longer you look, the more you realize that the painting is not trying to tell you one story, but many stories at once, that somehow speak to each other. It reminds me of Phillip Guston's later paintings, with their similar use of bold lines and colors to convey a sense of anxiety and unease.