Throughout his career Beckmann was attracted to mysterious allegories and complicated symbolism, and his works are often difficult to decode. With its swirl of ambiguous, nightmarish figures, this painting's exact subject remains something of a mystery. The ambiguity is reinforced by the fact that Beckmann thought and rethought the work: he began the painting in 1947, but reworked it heavily two years later, changing its name from Jupiter to The Tempest.

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