Grande autoritratto
1919
Max Beckmann stares right back at you in this intense 1919 portrait, a cigarette dangling casually from his lips like a badge of survival. Created just after the horrors of World War I, where he served as a medic and suffered a nervous breakdown, this work captures the raw, jagged energy of German Expressionism. The scratchy, aggressive lines map out the anxiety and resilience of a man trying to make sense of a shattered world. It's a face that says, 'I've seen some stuff, but I'm still here.'