Self-Portrait with Cat and Lamp
- Depicted
- Max Beckmann, German, 1884–1950
- Date
- 1920
- Material
- Lithograph
- published in
- Darmstadt, Hessen state, Germany, Europe
- Classification
- Prints
- Collection
- Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- image: 18 3/8 x 12 11/16 in. (46.6 x 32.3 cm)
sheet: 22 1/8 x 15 7/16 in. (56.1 x 39.2 cm) - Credit Line
- Neumann/Frumkin Collection, purchased with funds provided by the bequest of Morton D. May, by exchange, the bequest of Florene M. Schoenborn in honor of her father, David May, by exchange, Emily Rauh Pulitzer, Museum Shop Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Lester A. Crancer Jr., Phoebe and Mark Weil, The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund, Mr. and Mrs. David C. Farrell, the Julian and Hope Edison Print Fund, gift of George Rickey, by exchange, bequest of Helen K. Baer, by exchange, Suzanne and Jerry Sincoff, Museum Shop Fund, by exchange, gift of the Buchholz Gallery, by exchange, Museum Purchase, by exchange, Jerome F. and Judith Weiss Levy, bequest of Horace M. Swope, by exchange, and funds given by Fielding Lewis Holmes through the 1988 Art Enrichment Fund, by exchange
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 379:2002
NOTES
Max Beckmann presents himself smoking a cigarette and facing a cat that is seated in close proximity on a table. The cat Pumm was the pet of the artist’s close friend, Friedel Battenberg, whose husband is pictured sleeping next to Beckmann. The cat may represent Friedel herself, since Beckmann and Friedel were rumored to be romantically involved. The artist may also have included the cat in his self-portrait to associate himself with the characteristics of being feline: enigmatic and aloof, yet ever watchful.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.