Triptych of the Temptation of St. Anthony 1937

Max Beckmann made this wild oil painting called “Triptych of the Temptation of St. Anthony,” probably sometime in the mid-20th century. I imagine him wrestling with these raw colours – ochre, red, and sickly green – pushing them around on the canvas until this strange scene started to emerge. I love the almost frantic energy of the composition, the way the space feels compressed, and the figures seem trapped within the frame. You can feel the artist's hand in every brushstroke. Beckmann wasn’t trying to create an illusion; he was trying to convey a feeling, a state of mind, and an experience. Each figure is rendered with thick outlines that give them a kind of solidity. I wonder if Beckmann was thinking about other painters like Grünewald or Bosch, who also explored the darker sides of human experience. As artists, we’re always in conversation with each other, building on what came before and pushing things in new directions. For me, it feels like an invitation to embrace ambiguity and uncertainty, to find meaning in the messiness of life.