Schlafende Frau Liebermann

1882–1883

A missed meeting with Van Gogh in Zweeloo

While Liebermann was working on “Bleaching on the Lawn” (1882–83), a return to naturalism, an attempt to meet Vincent van Gogh in Zweeloo came to nothing.

1884

Decides to return to Berlin

Liebermann knew that Berlin would bring fresh conflicts, but he believed the city would sooner or later take its place among the leading art centres: it held an important place on the European art market, and Munich's traditions weighed on him. The family's first home was an apartment at In den Zelten 11, on the northern edge of the Tiergarten.

after 1884

The Bernsteins' house: Manet, Degas and Berlin's circle

At the home of his neighbours Carl and Felicie Bernstein, Liebermann saw paintings by Édouard Manet and Edgar Degas that stayed with him all his life; Max Klinger, Adolph Menzel, Georg Brandes, Wilhelm Bode, Theodor Mommsen and Alfred Lichtwark were among the visitors, and for the first time he felt accepted in Berlin's artistic community. Joining the Society of Friends (Quakers) also eased his acceptance among the upper bourgeoisie.

1884

A honeymoon in Holland instead of Italy

The wedding to Martha Marckwald, to whom he had become engaged in May, took place on 14 September, right after the move from Munich to Berlin. Instead of Italy the newlyweds went to Scheveningen, where Israëls joined them; in Laren Liebermann met Anton Mauve, and Delden, Haarlem and Amsterdam followed.

1886

Back at the Academy's exhibition after eight years

Liebermann showed “Recreation Time in the Orphanage”, “Old Men's Home in Amsterdam” and “The Grace” — a painting of a Dutch peasant family at prayer, made at Israëls's suggestion during the honeymoon. The influential critic Ludwig Pietsch called him a great talent and an outstanding representative of modernism.

1887

Salon of 1887: muted applause and Menzel's praise

The Laren painting was received in Paris with muted applause, while Adolph Menzel called Liebermann the only painter “who paints people, not models”. Around the same time the critic Emil Heilbut, in his “Study on Naturalism and Max Liebermann”, called him “the boldest forerunner of the new art in Germany”.