{
"data": {
"id": 171157,
"accession_number": "2013.7",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Perseus's Last Duty, 1949. Max Beckmann (German, 1884\u20131950). Oil on canvas; framed: 125 x 178.5 x 8.5 cm (49 3/16 x 70 1/4 x 3 3/8 in.); unframed: 89.4 x 142 cm (35 3/16 x 55 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange, 2013.7",
"current_location": "225 German Expressionism & Surrealism",
"title": "Perseus's Last Duty",
"creation_date": "1949",
"creation_date_earliest": 1949,
"creation_date_latest": 1949,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"Germany, 20th century"
],
"technique": "oil on canvas",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Modern European Painting and Sculpture",
"collection": "Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Framed: 125 x 178.5 x 8.5 cm (49 3/16 x 70 1/4 x 3 3/8 in.); Unframed: 89.4 x 142 cm (35 3/16 x 55 7/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"framed": {
"height": 1.25,
"height_inch": 49,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.1875,
"width": 1.785,
"width_inch": 70,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.25,
"depth": 0.085,
"depth_inch": 3,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.375
},
"unframed": {
"height": 0.894,
"height_inch": 35,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.1875,
"width": 1.42,
"width_inch": 55,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.875
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "signed lower middle: \"Beckmann NY 49\"",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Estate of the Artist, sold to Catherine Viviano Gallery",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York, NY, 1962, sold to Stanley J. Seeger)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1962",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Stanley J. Seeger [1930-2011], New York, NY and London, United Kingdom, consigned to Sotheby's NY for sale",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1962-2001",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "(Sotheby's, New York, NY, May 8, 2001, sold to Private Collection)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "2001",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "(French & Co., New York, NY, 2013, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art )",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "2013",
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "2013-",
"sortorder": 6
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [
"20.2012"
],
"did_you_know": "The reclining figure encircled by the griffin's tail at the far right may be the artist's self-portrait.",
"description": "This painting depicts Perseus, a celebrated warrior from Greek mythology whose name derives from the Greek word \"to waste, ravage, sack, destroy.\" Perseus\u2019s most famous feat was cutting off Medusa\u2019s head. Yet, the mass slaughter depicted here is not found in the ancient myth, but instead suggests a nightmarish allegory filled with private, enigmatic symbols, perhaps reflecting Beckmann\u2019s experience of barely surviving two world wars. Traumatized while serving as a medical orderly during WWI, Beckmann later became the target of Nazi persecution. In 1947 he immigrated to the United States. Created in the aftermath of the Holocaust and under the Cold War threat of nuclear annihilation, this painting suggests a bitter critique of mankind\u2019s propensity for destruction. Presenting Perseus in female dress subverts the hypermasculine glamorization of military heroes common to national historical myths.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60482404"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2013.7-perseus-s-last-duty"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Max Beckmann: Exhibition of Paintings, 1925-1950 : January 9-27, 1962. New York, NY: Catherine Viviano Gallery, 1962.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: no. 19",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Go\u0308pel, Erhard, and Barbara Go\u0308pel. Max Beckmann: Katalog der Gema\u0308lde. Bern, Switzerland: Kornfeld & Cie, 1976.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 298, vol II",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Schu\u0308tt, Jutta, David Anfam, and Karoline Feulner. Beckmann & America. Ostfildern, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2011.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 230-232",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Robinson, William. \"Perseus' Last Duty.\" Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 53, no. 4 (July/August 2013): 18-19.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 18-19",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2013-04/page/n17/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Robinson, William. \"2013 Acquisitions: Modern Art.\" Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 2 (March/April 2014): 20.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 20",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2014-02/page/n19/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Griswold, William M. \u201cRecent Acquisitions (2013-20) at the Cleveland Museum of Art.\u201d Burlington Magazine 163, no. 1414 (January 2021): 93-104.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 99, no. 11; mentioned: P. 93",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Beckmann, Max, Anja Tiedemann, Erhard Go\u0308pel, Barbara Go\u0308pel, and Erhard Go\u0308pel. Max Beckmann: die Gema\u0308lde, Ahlen : Franz Dieter und Michaela Kaldewei Kulturstiftung, 2021, 477",
"page_number": "Reproduced and mentioned: p. 477",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2013.7",
"images": {
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"creditline": "Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange",
"image_credit": null,
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"athena_id": 171157,
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{
"id": 25607,
"description": "Max Beckmann (German, 1884\u20131950)",
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"birth_year": "1884",
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"legal_status": "accessioned",
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"sortable_date": 1949,
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"date_text": "1949",
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"alternate_titles": [
"Perseus' Last Duty"
],
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"updated_at": "2026-05-29 08:47:42.255000"
}
}