zwei Männer und eine Frau an der Bar (Three for Drinks) [p. 42] 1927

Max Beckmann made this drawing of three people at a bar with graphite on paper. Look at the shorthand he uses, like a visual note-taker quickly capturing the scene before him. It feels like seeing someone think. There's something immediate and honest about the visible process here. You can almost feel the pressure of the pencil on the page, the speed of the lines, and the artist's focus on capturing the essence of the moment. Notice the way he renders the woman’s face. It’s this kind of directness that gives the work its power, drawing us into the scene. Beckmann's work reminds me a lot of Philip Guston, another artist who wasn't afraid to embrace the messy, uncertain aspects of artmaking. Like Guston, Beckmann shows us that art doesn't always have to be polished or perfect. It can be a raw, visceral expression of the human experience, full of contradictions and ambiguities.