Afternoon 1946

Max Beckmann made this painting, Afternoon, and look at how the tones seem to press against each other! It’s a physical process, all that laying down of colour and trying to make it work. Beckmann seems to be working with the push and pull of paint. It’s not blended, so each brushstroke feels distinct, like individual tiles in a mosaic. The colours are dark, earthy, but there are also these flashes of light. Look at how he uses the white of the underpainting to create highlights on the figures' bodies. It's as if the light is trapped beneath the surface of the skin. Then there’s the flat plane of the man's dark leg, that brings you right into the picture and also pushes you back. It is so direct. I think of Paula Modersohn-Becker looking at this. These artists, they see each other. Each artwork, a conversation. Art is always open to interpretation; that's the beauty of it.