At the latest since Goethe's Italian Journey (1786-88), Italy has been an unavoidable travel destination and important place of inspiration for artists from German-speaking countries. Max Liebermann (1847-1935) also approached the country south of the Alps, to which, however, he initially cultivated a distant and sometimes ambivalent relationship. Even if his painting home was Holland, he declared in a text dedicated to the Dutch painter Jozef Israëls: "Perhaps Italy is in and of itself more picturesque than Holland; but we only see Italy in more or less bad [...] Italian vedute: Italy is too picturesque." (quoted in Max Liebermann: Gesammelte Schriften, Berlin 1922, p. 99).
Despite such claims, Liebermann made at least six trips to northern Italy, Tuscany, and Lazio between 1878 and 1913. On site, he came into contact with representatives of the Italian art scene, regularly exhibited his works, and found inspiration for his own works. In 1908, for example, the management of the Uffizi asked him to paint a self-portrait for their own portrait collection. His participation in the first International Art Exhibition of the city of Venice in 1895 was the prelude to regular participation in Italian art shows.
The exhibition is being held in cooperation with the Casa di Goethe in Rome. It is under the patronage of His Excellency Viktor Elbling of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Rome and the patronage of His Excellency Armando Varricchio of the Italian Embassy in Berlin.
