The Negro

1907–1915 · Bostadsort

Hermsdorf

during the First World War

A nervous breakdown and discharge from the army

His traumatic experience of the war coincides with a dramatic change of style, from academically correct depictions to a distortion of both figure and space. He is discharged from the military after a nervous breakdown.

1933

The Nazis dismiss Beckmann from his teaching post

In 1933 the Nazi government calls Beckmann a “cultural Bolshevik” and dismisses him from his teaching position at the art school in Frankfurt.

1937

Leaving for the Netherlands after Hitler's speech

The day after Hitler's radio speech about degenerate art, Beckmann leaves Germany with his second wife, Quappi, for the Netherlands.

1947

Moving to the United States to teach in St. Louis

In 1947 Beckmann and his wife finally cross the ocean: at the invitation of Perry T. Rathbone, director of the Saint Louis Art Museum, he takes a teaching post at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts at Washington University, a vacancy left by Philip Guston, who had taken a leave.

27 december 1950

Died