  About the Artwork
  
  
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In this precarious arrangement of objects, Max Beckmann invoked the symbolism of vanitas still lifes to convey the idea of the shortness and fragility of life. A pair of toppled but extinguished candles, pears and grapes, and two lighted candles are closely grouped on a white tablecloth. The table is bordered by a wall covered with snow-blossom-patterned yellow wallpaper and set against an impenetrable dark expanse, its legs both highlighting the compression of the space and providing a depth to it. Beckmann made this painting in 1929, when Germany’s Weimar Republic, established after World War I, became increasingly weak and politically volatile, upending lives and careers.  

This was the first painting by Beckmann to be acquired by a public museum in the United States. The Detroit Institute of Arts bought it through dealer Alfred Flechtheim in Berlin in 1929, shortly after it was painted.
  
  
  Title
  Still Life with Fallen Candles
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1929
  
  Artist
  Max Beckmann
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1884-1950
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  German
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 22 × 24 3/4 inches (55.9 × 62.9 cm)
  Framed: 28 7/8 × 31 1/8 × 3 inches (73.3 × 79.1 × 7.6 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Modern Art to 1970
  
  
  Credit
  City of Detroit Purchase
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  29.322
  
  
  Copyright
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