Erich HeckelGerman, 1883–1970Self-Portrait: Bearded Man
May one see it?
Not receiving at present
Minneapolis, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
Self-portraiture was a central concern of the German Expressionists. Erich Heckel, one of the four founders of the Brücke group, often depicted himself in paintings, drawings, and prints. This work shows a quiet man, perhaps shocked and saddened, as Heckel truly was from his wartime experience. The backdrop is an attic studio he had decorated by painting figures on the slanted walls.
Among Heckel’s drawings, this portrait is unusually large with respect to the size of the sheet and the scale of the head. It appears to be a rehearsal for a major mural on the theme of Lebensstufen (stages of life), which Heckel executed in the early 1920s in the Angermuseum in Erfurt. Generally regarded as the most important surviving German Expressionist wall painting, the mural is Heckel’s largest extant project.
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Particulars
- Accession number
- 97.42
In the catalog
Sources
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Image: Minneapolis Institute of Art — © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
