A Country Brasserie, Brannenburg, Bavaria 1894

Max Liebermann painted this work, A Country Brasserie, Brannenburg, Bavaria, in oil on canvas. Liebermann was among the first German artists to embrace Impressionism, and this work reflects those painterly trends. But his interest in informal social spaces goes deeper than a simple adoption of French technique. Liebermann was from an upper-class Jewish family in Berlin. He confronted overt anti-Semitism from an early age, and his urban, cosmopolitan background was often at odds with the increasing nationalism of Imperial Germany. This painting, like many others by Liebermann, shows ordinary people enjoying leisure time, an interest that puts him in dialogue with French painters like Manet and Renoir. In this image, we see that modern life is not just in the city but in the countryside too. The beauty of this painting lies in understanding Liebermann's position in German society, which can be researched through archival sources and social histories of the period. By examining art in relation to its context, we gain a richer sense of its meaning and value.