
The World War
1916 · Oil on canvas
21 x 17 5/8" (53.3 x 44.8 cm)
Museum of Modern Art

Max Oppenheimer was an Austrian painter and printmaker whose gestural approach to portraiture prioritized psychological intensity over naturalistic detail. Working in oil and graphic media during Vienna's early modernist ferment, he developed an Expressionist vocabulary rooted in distorted line and emotional immediacy. Active across painting, drawing, and printmaking, Oppenheimer navigated the artistic upheaval of post-war Austrian modernism without retreating into pure abstraction. His work remains anchored in the figure, even as formal distortion serves psychological rather than descriptive ends.
Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 25d ago