plate 3; The Street

Max Beckmann

1919

plate 3; The Street by Max Beckmann, 1919

Max Beckmann churned out this chaotic lithograph in 1919 as part of his 'Hell' portfolio, channeling the severe trauma he experienced as a medic during World War I. The scene is a claustrophobic nightmare of a city street, packed with distorted, angular figures—a blind man, a soldier, and a woman being grabbed—crashing into each other in a frenzy. It captures the raw anxiety of post-war Germany, where society felt like it was collapsing into madness. The jagged lines and crowded composition make you feel the suffocating pressure of urban life, proving that for Beckmann, the real hell was right here on earth.

Technique
Lithograph
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