Max Beckmann
*1884 Leipzig – †1950 New York
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
The paintings of Max Beckmann before the World War I were inspired by Impressionism. After WW I his work changed dramatically in reaction to the horrors he had seen. At first, he focused on biblical scenes and after a while he realized more realistic portraits and figure associated to the New Realism.
He saw the world as a tragedy of man’s inhumanity to man and saw life as a carnival of human folly. After the mid-1920s his style of painting changed to Expressionistic brushwork and brighter colors. The painting shows us a cafe where a man is hanged above a table surrounded by people. At the left you see a YMCA-police men, in the middle you find a nurse and near the hanged figure you see a patient checking the pulse.