Double Portrait 1923

oil, canvas

portrait

17_20th-century

woman

animal

oil

oil painting

canvas

portrait reference

expressionism

animal portrait

animal drawing portrait

portrait drawing

facial portrait

portrait art

fine art portrait

celebrity portrait

digital portrait

"Double Portrait" (1923) by German Expressionist painter Max Beckmann depicts two women seated together, one in a black dress and the other in a pink dress. The women's figures are rendered with exaggerated features and a sense of emotional intensity, characteristic of Beckmann's style. This work, currently housed in the Städel Museum, offers a glimpse into Beckmann's exploration of human relationships and the complexities of the human condition.

Comments

stadelmuseum over 1 year ago

⋮

The depiction conveys a certain unease: the composition forces the two women into a spatial proximity that only reinforces the viewer’s impression of their distanced relationship. Marie Swarzenski, wife of his patron and then Städel director Georg Swarzenski, and the latter’s secretary, Carola Netter, sat separately as models for the painting – for Beckmann to then unite them in one portrait. Marie Swarzenski’s angular features and stiff posture on the right appear austere in comparison to Carola Netter’s soft facial expression on the left. Beckmann also used the colour contrast of the dresses to emphasise the differences between the women, whose personalities can barely unfold in the narrow painting.