Vaudeville Act (Quappi)

Max Beckmann

1934 and 1937 · Oil on canvas · Modern and Contemporary Art

This painting represents three of Beckmann’s great loves: cabaret and vaudeville, jazz, and his wife, Quappi. A trained violinist, she never played the banjo as she does here. Had Beckmann not added her name to the title, it would be difficult to recognize her. He painted the first version of this work in Berlin in 1934 but revised it in Amsterdam in 1937.

Artist

Max Beckmann

Date

1934 and 1937

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876–1967), 1967