Max Slevogt
Max Slevogt was a German artist who lived from 1868 to 1932 who was associated with the Impressionism art movement. Along with fellow artists Max Liebermann and Lovis Corinth, Slevogt represents the most successful artists of the plein air German Impressionist style from the end of the nineteenth century.
Slevogt was born in Landshut, Germany. His first desire was to be a musician, but he soon switched over to painting. Slevogt studied art at the Munich Academy between 1884 and 1890. At that time, his work had an overall dark palate that was in line with the German and Dutch art styles. The Dutch master, Rembrandt van Rijn, was one of his inspirations during this period. In 1889, Slevogt spent one semester studying art at the Académie Julian in Paris, France.
Early on, Selvogt started to achieve some success in the art world. In 1897, he had his first solo art show in Vienna, Austria. He was married the following year, in 1898, to his childhood friend, Antonie Finkler. In 1900, his work was exhibited along with other German artists at the famed Exposition Universelle in Paris. At the Exposition Universelle, Slevogt was again exposed to the French Impressionists, particularly the work of Édouard Manet. This time, Manet’s style had a lasting influence on Slevogt’s work.
In 1901, Slevogt moved to Berlin where he joined the Berlin Secession movement. There, he met fellow German artists within the group, Max Lievermann, Max Beckmann, and Lovis Corinth amongst many others. The Berlin Secession movement, similar to the Austrian Secessionists, was a cooperative that provided an alternative to the academic and traditional styles of German art. Between 1909 and 1913, Slevogt spent his summers at his wife’s family’s country home in Godramstein. Godramstein is a district in the city of Landau in southwestern Germany, along the Queich River. He created many works of art while in Godramstein, giving the name to that period of his art, the “Godramstein Period”.
Slevogt started working with light and color and how the interplay between them would influence his overall pieces. Slevogt’s color palette lightened, and his brush strokes grew looser. He also began using the pastose technique, applying paint thickly onto the canvas, oftentimes by palette knife alone. Unfortunately, in 1913, his wife’s family underwent some financial difficulties and were forced to sell their summer home.
After the outbreak of WWI, the German government sent Slevogt to the western front of the war to be the official war painter. This experience had a profound effect on Slevogt’s work and the subjects of what he painted. After seeing the horrors of war firsthand, his subjects became more serene and serious. During the last years of Slevogt’s life, he worked on a large mural for a church in Ludwigshafen which was unfortunately destroyed during WWII. Slevogt died in 1932 at 64 years old.
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