The Town (City Night)
- Date
- 1950
- Material
- Oil on canvas
- made in
- New York, New York, United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Paintings
- Collection
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 213
- Dimensions
- 64 3/4 x 75 1/8 in. (164.5 x 190.8 cm)
framed: 71 3/8 x 81 9/16 x 2 3/4 in. (181.3 x 207.2 x 7 cm) - Credit Line
- Bequest of Morton D. May
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 868:1983
NOTES
Menacing and mournful onlookers, including animal-human hybrids, watch a bound woman in bed. The artist’s wife identified her as “beauty” in her memoirs; scholars have interpreted her as an allegory of the city at night. Max Beckmann made this painting in New York, where, for him, the “city at night” meant frequent visits to nightspots and the people he encountered. Ambitious in size and subject, this painting was made in the year of his death.
Provenance
Max Beckmann (1884-1950), New York, NY [1]
1950 - 1953
Mathilde Q. Beckmann, New York, NY, by inheritance from the artist
1953 - 1983
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, purchased from Mathilde Q. Beckmann through the Curt Valentin Gallery, Inc. (formerly Buchholz Gallery), New York, NY [2]
1983 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, bequest of Morton D. May [3]
Notes:
[1] Max Beckmann kept lists of most of his paintings which often included the dates that they were worked on and notes on who purchased them. According to Göpel, Beckmann recorded that this painting was started on March 5 and completed on March 25, 1950 in New York [Göpel, Erhard and Barbara Göpel. "Max Beckmann: Katalog der Gemälde." Bern: Kornfeld & Cie., 1976, cat. no. 817].
[2] Invoice and letter from Curt Valentin to Morton D. May dated January 15, 1953 [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Record sheets maintained by Morton D. May further confirm that he obtained the painting via trade and purchase from Mathilde Q. Beckmann through the Curt Valentin Gallery on January 15, 1953 [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum].
[3] Last Will and Testament of M. D. May dated June 11, 1982 [copy, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 20, 1983.
1950 - 1953
Mathilde Q. Beckmann, New York, NY, by inheritance from the artist
1953 - 1983
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, purchased from Mathilde Q. Beckmann through the Curt Valentin Gallery, Inc. (formerly Buchholz Gallery), New York, NY [2]
1983 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, bequest of Morton D. May [3]
Notes:
[1] Max Beckmann kept lists of most of his paintings which often included the dates that they were worked on and notes on who purchased them. According to Göpel, Beckmann recorded that this painting was started on March 5 and completed on March 25, 1950 in New York [Göpel, Erhard and Barbara Göpel. "Max Beckmann: Katalog der Gemälde." Bern: Kornfeld & Cie., 1976, cat. no. 817].
[2] Invoice and letter from Curt Valentin to Morton D. May dated January 15, 1953 [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Record sheets maintained by Morton D. May further confirm that he obtained the painting via trade and purchase from Mathilde Q. Beckmann through the Curt Valentin Gallery on January 15, 1953 [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum].
[3] Last Will and Testament of M. D. May dated June 11, 1982 [copy, May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 20, 1983.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.