Ammerland on Lake Starnberg has always been a great fascination for artists.
Gabriel von Max - a fascinating figure of the 19th century - also lived here.
Münsing
- In autumn 2010, an exhibition took place in the Künstlerhaus on Lenbachplatz in Munich, which honored Gabriel von Max (1840-1915) in all its facets and in all its significance.
Not only the painter, who was world famous at the time, but also the spiritualist and the Darwinist came into their own.
He was, as the curator Karin Althaus put it, an "extraordinary figure of the 19th century".
It must be added that it found its adopted home in Ammerland.
The "martyr on the cross" makes him a star
Gabriel Max was born in 1840 in Prague as the son of the sculptor Joseph Max and his wife Anna Schumann.
He received his first artistic training from his father.
He goes to the art academies of Prague, Vienna and Munich.
The painting “Martyr on the Cross” from 1867 made him a star painter.
His theme was the supernatural, with which he hit the nerve of the time.
In 1878 Max was appointed professor of history painting at the Munich Academy, but he gave this position and title back in 1883.
In 1900 he was raised to the nobility.
His penchant for mysticism makes him scary
The Prague citizen is not entirely sure of his surroundings because of his penchant for the mystical, which he also cultivates privately.
In 1884 the second official meeting of the theosophical society "Germania" took place in his villa in Ammerland.
Gabriel von Max is friends with his neighbors, the parapsychologist Albert von Schrenck-Notzing (the “ghost baron”) and the occult writer Karl du Prel.
With the money he earns as a painter, he pursues his passion for anthropology and zoology.
His skull collection includes 60,000 objects.
It is the greatest of its time.
Today it is kept in the Reiss Engelhorn Museums in Mannheim.
For a while, Max even kept his own herd of monkeys in his garden house in Munich.
His monkey pictures are world famous at the time.
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Gabriel von Max loved monkeys and often painted them.
© Archive
Gabriel von Max came to Ammerland in 1871. He had the villa on the east bank (today's address: Südliche Seestraße 29) built for himself and his family, consisting of Mrs. Emma Kitzing, a daughter and their two sons Cornelius and Columbus, who later became painters themselves .
In 1890 Emanuel von Seidl's villa was expanded.
The dazzling Gabriel von Max lived there until his death in 1915.
Also read: Count Franz von Pocci and his castle on the lake
The listed villa has been causing a stir for years because the current owner is no longer doing anything to preserve it.
Repeated demolition requests are rejected by the authorities, most recently she turns to Prime Minister Söder in vain.
The behavior of the owner is even worth an article in 2019 for the Hamburg news magazine “Der Spiegel”.
The East Bank Protection Association awards the Gabriel von Max Monument Prize to builders who take special care of their listed houses.
The prize, a pensive monkey, was created by Ernst Grünwald - also from Ammerland.