King and private, 1984

About the Work

On the occasion of Max Beckmann’s (1884–1950) 100th birthday, Peter Sorge drew the large-scale triptych Nothing Against Max. Beckmann himself is seen in the sheet on the left, drawn in pencil after a photo of 1938, above him a detail of his triptych The Argonauts (1949/50). Sorge’s work combines fragments from a wide variety of media sources – for example Janet Leigh screaming in terror in the role of Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller Psycho of 1960 – with details of Beckmann’s triptych. The medieval painting format points to art’s spiritual, originally religious purpose.