“Art serves understanding, not entertainment,” said Max Beckmann (1884–1950) in one of his dictums, and Beckmann’s oeuvre does in fact contain a wealth of existential and contemporary historical questions. Dream of Life, the title of this book, is taken from a poem by the eighteenth-century German poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock which Beckmann integrated into one of his sketchbooks.This panoramic presentation sheds new light on central themes such as the world of the theater, cabaret, and music, dreams and reality, staged sensuality, and the role of the female muse, as well as the artist’s unusual ways of employing romanticizing visual motifs in landscapes and urban contexts. Featuring a representative selection of about sixty paintings done between 1917 and 1950, this book contains illuminating essays on the subject by specialists. (English edition ISBN 978-3-7757-1695-6)Exhibition schedule: Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, March 31–June 18, 2006 · Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal, opening July 2006