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Departure, yes departure, from the illusions of life toward the essential realities that lie beyond…. It is to be said that Departure bears no tendentious meaning-it could well be applied to all times. Max Beckmann 1(p53) On July 19, 1937, the day after hearing Adolf Hitler's radio broadcast announcing the opening of the House of German Art, renowned expressionist Max Beckmann and his wife Quappi fled Berlin for the Netherlands. They were never to return to Germany. The House of German Art, the first building erected by the new regime, would show only the finest art, that approved by the Third Reich, and none by modern artists now deemed degenerate. Hitler raved against decadent modern artists like Beckmann in his radio address. He demeaned modern artists, claiming that they see "our people as decadent cretins" and distort the world by painting meadows blue, skies green, and clouds sulfur yellow. Hitler ordered the Minister of the Interior to "prevent at least the further hereditary propagation of these gruesome optical disturbances." 2(p26) Thus, modern artists, along with people with mental illnesses, were targeted for sterilization in the Nazi eugenics campaign. 3 The Degenerate Art exhibition (Entartete Kunst) opened at the Institute of Archeology in Munich nearby the House of German Art the day the Beckmanns departed. 4 It was a collection of more than 650 paintings, sculptures, prints, and books taken from 32 public museums from all over Germany and chosen from more than 16 000 works deemed to be degenerate. Because avant-garde art was equated by the National Socialists (ie, the Nazis) with art by insane persons, works of modern art were hung side by side in the exhibition with art by psychiatric patients for direct comparison. 4 Entering the first room, museumgoers were greeted by Beckmann's Decent From the Cross, described as sacrilegious, and his Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery, described as undermining family values. Overall, 10 of Beckmann's best known paintings and 11 of his lithographs and etchings were on display. With this public condemnation of his art, there was no possibility of Beckmann remaining in Germany.Such treatment was unbearable for an artist of Beckmann's stature. He expressed his interest in art as a child when he traded his tin soldiers for paints. His talent was clearly recognized by the age of 16. At the age of 22 in 1906, he won the coveted Villa Romana Prize for a 6-month residence in Florence, Italy. 1 By 1913, he was giving solo exhibits and compared by critics to Rubens, Rembrandt, and Delacroix.In 1915, Beckmann enlisted as a medical orderly during World War I. Traumatized by the carnage he witnessed, he had a "nervous breakdown" and was discharged. His traumatic ex-
Departure, yes departure, from the illusions of life toward the essential realities that lie beyond…. It is to be said that Departure bears no tendentious meaning-it could well be applied to all times. Max Beckmann 1(p53) On July 19, 1937, the day after hearing Adolf Hitler's radio broadcast announcing the opening of the House of German Art, renowned expressionist Max Beckmann and his wife Quappi fled Berlin for the Netherlands. They were never to return to Germany. The House of German Art, the first building erected by the new regime, would show only the finest art, that approved by the Third Reich, and none by modern artists now deemed degenerate. Hitler raved against decadent modern artists like Beckmann in his radio address. He demeaned modern artists, claiming that they see "our people as decadent cretins" and distort the world by painting meadows blue, skies green, and clouds sulfur yellow. Hitler ordered the Minister of the Interior to "prevent at least the further hereditary propagation of these gruesome optical disturbances." 2(p26) Thus, modern artists, along with people with mental illnesses, were targeted for sterilization in the Nazi eugenics campaign. 3 The Degenerate Art exhibition (Entartete Kunst) opened at the Institute of Archeology in Munich nearby the House of German Art the day the Beckmanns departed. 4 It was a collection of more than 650 paintings, sculptures, prints, and books taken from 32 public museums from all over Germany and chosen from more than 16 000 works deemed to be degenerate. Because avant-garde art was equated by the National Socialists (ie, the Nazis) with art by insane persons, works of modern art were hung side by side in the exhibition with art by psychiatric patients for direct comparison. 4 Entering the first room, museumgoers were greeted by Beckmann's Decent From the Cross, described as sacrilegious, and his Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery, described as undermining family values. Overall, 10 of Beckmann's best known paintings and 11 of his lithographs and etchings were on display. With this public condemnation of his art, there was no possibility of Beckmann remaining in Germany.Such treatment was unbearable for an artist of Beckmann's stature. He expressed his interest in art as a child when he traded his tin soldiers for paints. His talent was clearly recognized by the age of 16. At the age of 22 in 1906, he won the coveted Villa Romana Prize for a 6-month residence in Florence, Italy. 1 By 1913, he was giving solo exhibits and compared by critics to Rubens, Rembrandt, and Delacroix.In 1915, Beckmann enlisted as a medical orderly during World War I. Traumatized by the carnage he witnessed, he had a "nervous breakdown" and was discharged. His traumatic ex-
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