Max Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter.

Beckmann was born in Leipzig into a family of farmers, who left the farm to settle in Leipzig after his birth. Beckmann began drawing at an early age and in 1900 entered the Weimar Academy of Arts.

Beckmann married Minna Tube in 1903, and they both moved to Paris . Beckmann also visited Florence and Genoa before settling in Berlin in 1904. His first exhibition was in 1912, and his first paintings show the influence of the Impressionists. His work was successful and Beckmann was able to dedicate himself entirely to art.

Beckmann served as a nurse during World War I, but was discharged after suffering a nervous breakdown. His war experiences are considered to have had a huge effect on his later work and his paintings began to adopt an expressionist style.

Beckmann taught in Frankfurt am Main from 1915, but was dismissed from his position by the Nazi party in 1933. In the early 1930s, he frequently visited Paris to paint and it was during this time that he began using triptychs, influenced by part by Hieronymus Bosch.

His paintings were classified as degenerate (see Entartete Kunst) by the Nazis in 1937 and Beckmann settled in Amsterdam.

In 1947, he left Amsterdam to settle, this time in the United States. First, Missouri, and later, New York. He died in 1950 of a heart attack while on his way to the Metropolitan Museum to attend an exhibition of his work.

Beckmann painted several self-portraits, including Self-Portrait in a Tuxedo (1927), which is considered a classic. Many of his other works depict scenes from everyday life. They often show grotesque mutilated bodies and are considered a criticism of the German government of the 1920s and 1930s, as well as an allusion to their experiences during the First World War. Throughout his life Max Beckman only made eight bronze sculptures. They reproduce human figures in movement, like dancers doing the spagat or the handstand. These very special pieces were exhibited at the Städel Institute in Frankfurt am Main.