Max Beckmann’s work was last exhibited in the Swiss capital in 1938 in the context of a group exhibition at the Contemporary Art Gallery Bern. The present-day exhibition has been prepared especially for Bern, and brings together 64 paintings dating from the years 1917 to 1950. On the back of the Beckmann exhibition, the Zentrum Paul Klee has re-hung sections of its permanent collection of works by Paul Klee, the first time this has been done since the Zentrum opened last June. The aim is to initiate a dialog between Paul Klee and contrasting artistic stances.

The Zentrum Paul Klee, now nine months old, is intending to hold four temporary exhibitions every year alongside its own permanent collection. One of these every year will be a monographic presentation of an artist plucked from Paul Klee’s cultural-historical environment. In 2006 the spotlight falls on Max Beckmann, one Paul Klee’s most significant contemporaries and, artistically speaking, one of his polar opposites. The confrontation between Beckmann and Klee is evinced in their very different approaches to existential and contemporary historical issues. Their respective iconographies contain much that is similar, but they could not be more different in the manner in which they treat that subject matter.

“Max Beckmann – Dream of Life” comprises 64 important works from the years 1917 to 1950, all culled from the holdings of well-known museums and galleries across Europe and the USA, as well as from private collections. Max Beckmann’s work was last shown in Bern in 1938 in the context of a group exhibition at the Contemporary Art Gallery Bern.

On the back of the Beckmann exhibition, the Zentrum Paul Klee has re-hung sections of its permanent collection of 4000-plus works by Paul Klee, the first time it has done so since opening nine months ago. The current presentation now focuses on setting the scene for a confrontational dialogue with Max Beckmann. One of the ways it achieves this is by incorporating a number of Beckmann works among the Klees for the duration of the Beckmann exhibition. The latter runs from 1 April to 18 June 2006. The pre-opening evening, which is open to the public, begins at 6 p.m. on 31 March 2006 at the Zentrum Paul Klee’s Auditorium.

Serving as a foil to the Max Beckmann exhibition at the Zentrum Paul Klee:

• Catalogue
  “Max Beckmann – Dream of Life”, published by Hatje Cantz Verlag in German and English; with commentaries by Cornelia Homburg, Tilman Osterwold, Sean Rainbird, Reinhard Spieler and Barbara Stehlé-Akhtar.
• EBBI, a comedy by Max Beckmann
  20-minute staged reading, with Regula Imboden, Dodó Deér and Michael Rath
  Directed by: Stephan Lichtensteiger, Concept: Ursula Frauchiger
• Literary Tour III
  Beckmann and Expressionism
  Actress and narrator Michaela Wendt presents Expressionist texts and poems to a backdrop of pictures by Max Beckmann and Paul Klee.
• Guided tours
  public guided tours of the Max Beckmann exhibition in German: Thursdays, 6.30 p.m. and Saturdays, 2.30 p.m.
• Musical finale to the Max Beckmann exhibition
  1. William Walton/Edith Sitwell: Façade (London 1922 – 1928)
  2. Arnold Schönberg/Albert Giraud: Pierrot Lunaire op. 21 (Berlin 1911)
  3. Igor Stravinsky/Charles Ferdinand Ramuz: Histoire du Soldat (Lausanne 1917/18)
  Performances: 15 June – 18 June
• Kindermuseum Creaviva children’s museum
  Courses and workshops on Max Beckmann