Germany's Highest Auction Price Ever, Max Beckmann Self-Portrait Sells for 27.3 Billion Won

‘Self-Portrait Guelph-Rosa’... Another Self-Portrait Sold for 31.4 Billion in 2001

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] A self-portrait by Max Beckmann, a German Expressionist painter known as the "painter's painter," was sold for 20 million euros (approximately 27.37 billion KRW), setting a record for the highest price in German auction history.

According to local German media and foreign news outlets, the painting titled "Self-Portrait Guelph-Rosa (Yellow-Pink Self-Portrait)" was acquired on the 1st (local time) at the Grisebach auction house in Berlin by an unidentified bidder. The artwork was kept by Beckmann's wife, Mathilde, until her death in 1986, after which it passed into private ownership.

The winning bidder reportedly paid an additional 23.2 million euros (approximately 31.75 billion KRW) in ancillary costs on top of the 20 million euro price. Beckmann (1884?1950) painted this work in 1943 in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, and it is distinctive for its use of bright tones, unlike his other works.

On the 1st (local time), Max Beckmann's work 'Self-Portrait Guelph-Rosa' was auctioned in Griesebach, Berlin, Germany. This piece sold for 20 million euros, setting a record for the highest price in a German auction. Photo by AFP·Yonhap News

Although Beckmann is not widely known to us, he is regarded as the "painter's painter" who deeply influenced German Neo-Expressionist artists such as J?rg Immendorff, A.R. Penck, Georg Baselitz, and Markus L?pertz. He traversed various movements including Cubism, fin-de-si?cle Symbolism, and German Impressionism to build his own unique artistic world. At 19, he volunteered as a sanitary soldier and experienced World War I, which left a profound impact on him. Subsequently, he expressed human suffering, anger, absurdity, and alienation in distorted and exaggerated forms.

Beckmann's life entered a turbulent period with Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933. The Nazis condemned modern art as socially and morally degenerate and confiscated over 500 of his works. In 1937, they exhibited 10 of his pieces at the infamous "Degenerate Art Exhibition" aimed at suppressing modern art. Unable to remain in Germany, Beckmann moved to Amsterdam in 1937. When the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in 1940, he relocated his studio to an old tobacco warehouse near the canal, where he mainly painted self-portraits and produced many works over ten years. The "Self-Portrait Guelph-Rosa" featured in this auction was painted during this period.

After World War II ended, Beckmann emigrated to the United States in 1947, teaching students for two years at Washington University in St. Louis before passing away in New York in 1950. He never returned to his homeland after leaving Germany in 1937. His major works include "Night," "Self-Portrait in Tuxedo," "Departure," "Carnival," and "Sailors of the Argon Line."

The value of Beckmann's works has surged explosively over recent decades. His "Self-Portrait with Trumpet" sold for 23 million euros (approximately 31.44 billion KRW) at an international auction in 2001, and in 2005, "Self-Portrait with Glass Ball" was sold for over 17 million euros (approximately 23.24 billion KRW) in New York, USA.