Max Liebermann (July 20, 1847 in Berlin - February 8, 1935) was a German painter. The son of a Jewish businessman from Berlin, Liebermann first studied law and philosophy, but later studied painting and drawing in Weimar in 1869, in Paris in 1872 and in Holland during 1876-77. Although residing and working for some time in Munich, he finally returned to Berlin in 1884 and worked there for the rest of his life. Liebermann painted scenes of the people in the country, his life and his work. Later on together with Lovis Corinth, and Max Slevogt he became an exponent of the German Impressionism. He used his own inherited wealth to assemble an impressive collection of French Impressionist works. He later chose scenes of the bourgeoisie as motifs of his paintings, as well as aspects of his garden near Lake Wannsee. In Berlin, he became a famous painter of portraits; his work is especially close in spirit to Edouard Manet.
From 1899 to 1911 he led what was for a time the leading avant-garde formation in Germany, the Berliner Secession. From 1920 on he was president of the Prussian academy of arts. In 1932 he resigned after he was forbidden to paint because he was Jewish and the academy decided to no longer exhibit paintings by Jewish painters. Liebermann is known for his comment while he saw the Nazis marching through the Brandenburg Gate celebrating the takeover of Adolf Hitler: "One cannot eat as much as one would like to vomit."
