Liebermann, Max (1847–1935)

German Impressionist painter. He painted landscapes, portraits, and scenes of urban life, such as Parrot Walk in the Amsterdam Zoo 1902 (Kunsthalle, Bremen). A founder member of the Berlin Sezession 1899, he was an important figure in the development of 20th-century German art.

Liebermann studied in Berlin, Weimar, and Paris. He paid regular visits to the Netherlands 1879–84, where he was influenced by Dutch genre painting and the style of Frans Hals, afterwards working in Berlin. A visit to Barbizon, near Paris, 1873 made him a student of nature in the spirit of Charles-François Daubigny and Camille Corot and, impressed by the work of both Jean François Millet and Jozef Israëls, he painted many peasant subjects, some in the Dutch fishing villages where Israëls found his themes. It was not until the 1890s that the influence of French Impressionism was reflected in a brighter, more colourful and spontaneous style. Liebermann was president of the Berlin Academy 1919–33.