Max Beckmann (1884–1950), the outstanding Expressionist painter, is regarded as one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. His works, jostling with figures and full of colour, are packed with highly symbolic messages. They are critical of the times in which he lived and bear witness to Beckmann’s struggle with existential questions and his constant search for truth. Max Beckmann is one of the most fascinating painters of the modern age, who more than almost any other reflected the social upheavals of his time, not only in his numerous works but also and not least through his extensive correspondence and diaries. He was an observer, a gentleman, a loner and a reflective witness of his age. Perpetually searching for truth, he was a self-critical witness of the times in which he lived. It is especially in his expressive self-portraits that we believe we can get closer to Beckmann’s multi-faceted nature and hence become better able to understand the wide range of metaphors in his multi-faceted oeuvre. This volume by one of the most illustrious Beckmann specialists, Dr. Christiane Zeiller, traces his artistic career and the principal stations of his life, from the years in Berlin and Frankfurt via his exile in Amsterdam und America. The unique Max Beckmann Archives, with its wide-ranging legacy, are currently housed in the Bayerische Staatsgemaldesammlungen in Munich. Material which has not previously been published will be shown in the publication, including private photos and objects from amongst the artist’s personal possessions.

The Modern Art Collection (Sammlung Moderne Kunst) at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich is one of the world's leading institutions for painting, sculpture, photography and new media. The spectrum ranges from the avant-garde movements of the early twentieth century to contemporary art. In the incomparably rich collection of Expressionists, the Cubist and Futuristic re-definition of autonomous art challenges the question of man's changed circumstances in the modern age. The artists of the 'Brücke' and the 'Blaue Reiter', along with Max Beckmann, who is uniquely represented here, address this issue eloquently. Pablo Picasso's pictorial fantasies and formal richness of invention are highlighted, along with Surrealists like Max Ernst, René Magritte and Salvador Dalí. Important themes after 1950 are debated in the works by Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, Dan Flavin, Georg Baselitz and others. This volume offers the author's refreshingly personal perspective on these subjects and highlights the iconic works in this world-class collection.

The Bavarian State Painting Collections hold 31 masterpieces by Georg Baselitz from all the artist's creative phases. The volume analyses for the first time these important paintings and sculptures within the context of the history of the collection, which has been shaped not only by the artist's out-standing supporters and collectors, including Duke Franz von Bayern, but also by the passionate commitment of the directors and curators of the museums. In 1972, when Sea Swallow became the first work by Georg Baselitz to join the Bavarian State Painting Collections, this represented the first step towards the establishment of an epoch-making collection. Today, 46 years later, the museum is dedicating this extensive publication to this main focus within its holdings which has been built up over the past decades. It spotlights one of the highlights of its collection of art after 1945, whose outstanding profile in the international museum landscape is also charac -terized by unique holdings of works by Joseph Beuys, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Anselm Kiefer, Sigmar Polke, Arnulf Rainer and Fred Sandback.

Adolf von Hildebrand is regarded as one of the most important sculptors in Germany around 1900. He created his works between the era of the Prince Regent in Munich and the enthusiasm for Italy of German Romans. He liberated the sculpture of the nineteenth century from superfluous decoration and thus became a pioneer of modernity. Works by the artist were already acquired for the collection of the Neue Pinakothek at an early point in time and were able to grow to become unique holdings of over 200 works as a result of the acquisition of his workshop estate. Besides completed works, the estate also includes models for ideal sculptures, reliefs, portraits, fountains, monuments, and tombs. In the catalog on the holdings, the works by Fabian Pius Huber are documented in detail for the first time and put in relation to the artist's oeuvre as a whole and his era.

Mobilitat und Naturerfahrung sind zwei wesentliche Angelpunkte der Landschaftskunst im 19. Jahrhundert. Reisen in nah und fern fuhrten zu neuen kunstlerischen Arbeitspraktiken und verhalfen unter anderem der OElstudie zu grossem Erfolg. Mehr noch wurde die aufkommende Reiselust, wie sie etwa in dem beruhmten Handbuch von Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes bereits 1800 propagiert wurde, zum Ideal der Aus- und Identitatsbildung des Landschaftsmalers. Der Wunsch nach Naturnahe, die Suche nach Neuem und das Bedurfnis nach kunstlerischem Austausch machten die Landschaftsmalerei zu einer europaischen Kunstform par excellence. Im vorliegenden Band thematisieren internationale und renommierte Fachleute die besondere Arbeitssituation des reisenden Landschaftsmalers, seine Sehnsucht nach nahem oder fernem Unbekannten und beschaftigen sich mit zeichnerischen und malerischen Aneignungsstrategien. Denn letztlich fuhrte der neue Arbeitsmodus auf Reisen zu einem neuen Landschaftsbild.

Der Gelehrte Alexander von Humboldt gehoert gleich Goethe zu den Groessen einer Zeit, die im geistigen Austausch mittels kurzerer oder langerer Briefe ihre Ideen und Projekte, Gedanken und Gefuhle transportierten. Derartige Quellen sind von hoechster Anschaulichkeit und grosser Lebendigkeit. Fast 150 Briefe Humboldts an den Bildhauer Christian Daniel Rauch, der - beispielsweise durch das Reiterstandbild Friedrichs des Grossen Unter den Linden - in Berlin allgegenwartig ist, werden hier erstmals veroeffentlicht und fachkundig kommentiert. In den zwischen 1807 und 1857 geschriebenen Briefen entsteht ein hoechst facettenreicher Einblick in die Welt zwischen Kunst und Wissenschaft, Burgertum und Hof, Frankreich und Deutschland, zwischen zwei engen Freunden. So schrieb Humboldt 1836 an Rauch: 'Sie, verehrter Freund, sind seit meines Bruders Tod mir die erfreulichste, anmutigste Erscheinung in dieser mir veroedeten Welt.'

Das Dresdener Kupferstich-Kabinett, eine der altesten derartigen Sammlungen der Welt, bewahrt Zeichnungen, druckgraphische Blatter und Fotografien aus uber acht Jahrhunderten. Aus diesem Bestand mit seinen weit uber 500 000 Arbeiten von mehr als 20 000 Kunstlern prasentiert der vorliegende Band etwa 120 Meisterwerke von Durer, van Eyck, Rembrandt bis hin zu Munch, Giacometti und Dix. Auch jungst erworbene zeitgenoessische Werke von Kunstlern wie Wolfgang Tillmans und Thomas Hoepker werden in Farbabbildungen vorgestellt. Alle besprochenen Werke sind chronologisch aufgefuhrt, so dass die Entwicklung der graphischen und fotografischen Kunste nachvollzogen werden kann. Zugleich werden die unterschiedlichen Funktionen und Techniken von Arbeiten auf Papier ebenso wie einige Schwerpunkte der Sammlung exemplarisch sichtbar.