mehrfigurige Skizze (Figural Composition) [p. 73] 1914 - 1915

Max Beckmann made this sketch on paper, probably in one of his notebooks, and it’s like a swarm of something, maybe figures, maybe thoughts, all jostling for space. I can just imagine Beckmann, with his pencil in hand, circling, searching, almost wrestling with the page. Is it me, or does it look like he’s trying to capture something fleeting, like a memory or a dream fading at the edges? The lines crisscross and overlap like the tangled threads of a story he’s trying to unravel. It’s like he’s thinking with the pencil, each stroke a question, each erasure a redirection. Beckmann was always trying to pin down the big questions about life, death, and everything in between, and you can see that struggle right here on this little page. It reminds me of other artists grappling with form, like Picasso or even Goya, all wrestling with the human condition, each in their own way. Ultimately, it makes you think, doesn’t it, about how we’re all just trying to make sense of the chaos, one line at a time.