The Leipzig painter, sculptor and graphic artist Max Klinger, doubtlessly one of the most important artists at the turn of the century, is, next to Gustav Klimt, regarded as the main representative of Art Nouveau.
Max Klinger, who became famous as the renovator of graphic art, also left an impressive painting and plastic oeuvre behind. The artist put his preferred topic in words in 1891: "Man and the human body are the core of all art". Max Klinger, whose concept of art must be seen in the light of the life reform movement, time and again depicted the naked body: Man and nature in a symbolically allegorized harmony that shows a positive attitude towards nakedness and sexuality. Besides frequent depictions of male nudes. Max Klinger was also occupied with portraits and "modern subjects" such as dance and the battle of the sexes.
On occasion of his 150th birthday (2007), the artist was honored with large exhibitions (Berlin, Hamburg) that showed not only Max Klinger as a master of Art Nouveau, but also as a trend-setting figure in the development of Modernism.