BECKMANN 2023.155 2025.195

Nackttanz (Striptease) belongs to the portfolio ‘Berliner Reise’ (‘Trip to Berlin)’, which Max Beckmann created during the volatile early years of the Weimar Republic . The series confronts the psychological and moral fractures of a defeated Germany, critiquing what the artist perceived as the decadent pastimes of the wealthy alongside the vulgar distractions of the poor. It reveals how Beckmann’s style altered dramatically following a nervous breakdown in 1915, after serving on the Western Front: rejecting the emotional intensity of Expressionism and adopting a sober realism that aligned it with the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement.

In Nackttanz (Striptease), Beckmann conveys both the hedonism and boredom of the bourgeoisie. The viewer shares their voyeuristic perspective, though the patrons appear unusually apathetic towards the naked dancers parading of front of them. The stripper, portrayed here as confrontational rather than glamourous, is compressed within a claustrophobic space, while the bar (or cabaret) is a site of both liberation and moral unease. Sharply observed scenes of Weimar-era  night life, Nackttanz and Kaschemme (Bar) reflect Beckmann’s critical engagement with modern life and his scepticism of the indulgences and excesses of postwar Berlin.