art
Max Liebermann was born 175 years ago
Lucy Wasensteiner, director of the Liebermann Villa at Wannsee, shows her favorite painting “On the Beach at Noordwijk” (1908). photo
© Paul Zinken/dpa
Initially derided as a poor man’s painter, he portrayed the bourgeois elite – and thereby marked the path from naturalism to impressionistic color worlds. Even 175 years after his birth, Max Liebermann’s versatility fascinates.
If you like Liebermann, you can’t do much wrong at first. Only a few German painters of international renown combine so many important artistic qualities: started out with a furor in naturalism, developed into one of the most important German impressionists, scarcely shied away from a subject, was active as a collector and consultant and then really stirred up the art world.