Drei Skizzen und Notizen (Three Sketches with Notations) [p. 18] 1914 - 1915

Max Beckmann made these three sketches and notations with ink on paper; it’s a page ripped right out of his notebook. I can imagine Beckmann on the go, quickly trying to get down an idea, a feeling, or a fleeting vision before it disappears. You can see the immediacy in these raw, energetic lines. The figures emerge from a flurry of marks, each stroke searching for form, but also willing to leave things unresolved. Look at how the figures in the top sketch are enclosed by an organic shape. Are they in a cave, a dream, or perhaps a space of the imagination? You see this kind of visual note-taking in the work of so many artists, from da Vinci to Twombly. Beckmann wasn’t just recording what he saw; he was using drawing as a way to think, to question, and to find his own place in the grand conversation of art history. The way the raw ideas are jotted on the page; it's like he's inviting us into his studio to join the conversation.