Max Clarenbach

The painter Max Clarenbach (1880-1952), a representative of the Rhenish art scene and a formative artist of the Düsseldorf School of Painting in the early 20th century, was accepted to the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf at the age of 13. There he was taught by artists such as Eugen Dücker and Heinrich Lauenstein. Eugen Dücker in particular had a great influence on Clarenbach's painting style. Max Clarenbach completed his studies at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 1903. A few years later, he and a few fellow artists founded the Sonderbund Westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler, a group that championed French Impressionism.

In his atmospheric landscape paintings, Max Clarenbach often depicted the Rhine and captured the atmosphere of the landscape in a remarkable way. Light and the different seasons and weather conditions play a particularly important role, giving his works a special emotional depth.

Between 1939 and 1940, he worked as a regional director at the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts. A few years later, he fell ill with cancer and died in Dusseldorf Wittlaer in 1952.