Max Liebermann Biography
Max Liebermann (Berlin, 20 July 1847 – Berlin, 8 February 1935) was a German painter. Max Liebermann was born into a Jewish family. He studied in Berlin and Weimar, then, attracted by the innovations of French painting, he stayed in Paris from 1873 to 1878; Having returned to Germany, he settled first in Munich and then in Berlin. In these years it was not impressionism that caught his attention, but rather the realism of Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet, whose social message he particularly appreciated. His works of the period realistically depict peasants and proletarians, interiors of hospitals, hospices and orphanages, with an incisive and direct style, in vigorous chromaticism. These works initially caused scandal in Germany at the time; but thanks to their pictorial strength they finally managed to establish themselves. Around 1890 Liebermann understood the importance of French Impressionism and approached the style of Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas, also starting to collect their paintings. His palette brightens and the number of colors increases, even if the spatial construction remains firmly linked to naturalistic structures. The influence of impressionism is notable: the brightness and nuances of the tones are accompanied by the search for movement and the new elegance of the brushstroke. In these years his favorite themes were scenes of bourgeois life and portraits, thanks to which he became famous in Berlin: the years of scandals are over and his art, less innovative and socially more conformist, harks back to nineteenth-century conformism. In 1890 he became a member of the academy, but in 1899, in controversy with the narrow horizons of painting in his country, he was among the promoters, together with Lovis Corinth and Max Slevogt, of the Berlin Secession, of which he was president for a long time. In 1920 he became president of the Prussian Academy of Arts. In 1933, with the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the consequent anti-Semitic policy, the Nazi persecutions against him began: after he was forbidden to paint and after the academy decided not to exhibit any more paintings by Jews, he was forced to resign and was included among the representatives of degenerate art. He died in Berlin on 8 February 1935.
