Man and woman 1932

Max Beckmann made this painting of a man and a woman using oil paint, and he wasn't afraid to let the process show. Look at the colours: fleshy tones contrasted with a pale blue ground. See how the artist handles the paint – thick, almost sculptural in places, and thin and washy in others? The whole painting feels like a build-up of layers, a conversation of marks. Notice that weird tree-like structure growing out of the man's back, with those two donuts skewering his flesh! It's a bizarre image, both unsettling and darkly funny. Beckmann reminds me of another painter, Philip Guston. Both artists embrace the awkward, the imperfect, and the unresolved in their work. Like Guston, Beckmann invites us to embrace the messy, complicated reality of being human. He doesn't give us easy answers, but instead offers a space for questioning, imagining, and feeling.