{"id":1270,"title":"Blind Man's Buff","medium":"Oil on canvas","classification":"Paintings","dimension":"81 1/4 x 173 in. (206.38 x 439.42 cm)\r\n73 1/2 x 40 in. (186.69 x 101.6 cm) (panel, left)\r\n81 1/2 × 90 1/2 in. (207.01 × 229.87 cm) (panel, center)\r\n73 7/8 x 41 3/4 in. (187.64 x 106.05 cm) (panel, right)","object_name":"Painting","continent":"Europe","country":"Germany","nationality":"German","dated":"1945","room":"G266-G274","list":"conservation, Euro-highlights-1800-1960s","role":"Artist","signed":"LR left panel in black: Beckmann A45 |  LR center panel in black: Beckmann A45 | LR right panel in black: Beckmann A45","text":"<i>Blind Man's Buff</i> is the most important of the five triptychs created by Max Beckmann while exiled in Holland between 1937-1947 - an exile necessitated by the Nazi's inclusion of ten of his works in their exhibition of degenerate art in 1937. Like much of his art, <i>Blind Man's Buff</i> is allusive and symbolic, inviting explication yet resisting explicit interpretation. Yet, the artist's use of the three-paneled format that was traditional to Medieval and Renaissance altarpieces evokes religious associations. Beckmann also drew upon classical sources, calling the figures at center the gods and the animal-headed man the minotaur. Throughout the triptych, figures engage in sensual pleasures in a place where time, represented by a clock without XII or I, has no beginning or end. In sharp contrast on each wing are the blindfolded man and kneeling woman who, like prayerful donors in a Renaissance altarpiece, turn their backs to the confusion behind them.","creditline":"Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Winston","Catalog_Raisonne":"Gopel, 704.","accession_number":"55.27a-c","artist":"Max Beckmann","life_date":"German, 1884–1950","department":"European Art","rights_type":"Public Domain","image_width":17320,"image_height":7657,"recent":0,"see_also":[],"sort_number":"55    27a    c","image":"valid","public_access":1,"curator_approved":0,"highlights":0,"Cache_Location":"001000\\200\\70\\1270","Primary_RenditionNumber":"mia_6015232_composite.jpg","Rights_Image_Display":"Full","TitleAlt":"Blinde Kuh","list:conservation":true,"list:euro-highlights-1800-1960s":true,"restricted":1,"related:audio-stops":[{"title":"Max Beckmann, Blindman's Buff","_id":"1270","objectId":"1270","link":"http://audio-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/p870.mp3","number":"870","type":"audio"}],"related:artstories":[{"title":"Blind Man's Buff","_id":"1270","objectId":"1270","description":"<p>The cabaret is swinging—hard enough that time has lost meaning and modern sophisticates consort with mythological figures. Amid these pleasure-seekers stand two young people carrying candles. The girl is oblivious to the clamor, steadfastly waiting; the boy is blindfolded but determined to find her—they have a predestined connection. These two give the painting its title, after the old game in which a blindfolded child stumbles through the darkness to find and “tag” other children. When asked if the couple would ever find each other, the artist Max Beckmann said “Perhaps; let us hope it.”</p>","link":"http://artstories.artsmia.org/#/o/1270","type":"artstory"}],"related:conservation":[{"id":"1270","title":"Restoring a Masterpiece III: Fall 2014","_id":"1270","objectId":"1270","link":"http://new.artsmia.org/restoring-a-masterwork-3/","type":"conservation"}],"mtime":"2026-03-13T09:00:09.514Z"}