The Expressionist and "Brücke" artist Max Pechstein was a pioneering representative of modernism in Germany. His intensely colorful depictions of people and nature are regarded as foundational to Expressionism and were a defining inspiration for an entire epoch.

Many of his paintings are regarded as icons of Expressionism, yet the stylistic breadth of Max Pechstein's art extends well beyond his works from the "Brücke" period. He found inspiration in his visits to what he called "painter's paradises" on the Baltic Sea and the South Pacific, where his focus on the unity of man and nature was crystallized. Pechstein's art and his yearning for harmony in an unstable world reflect our current and increasingly appreciative view of nature and the environment, and thus serve as a bridge to the present time.