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Peter Max was born in Berlin, Germany in 1937, and later came to the United States where he became a citizen, and was educated in New York City. In New York he received an education at the Art Student's League, the Pratt Institute, and the School of Visual Arts.

Max's family lived in Shanghai for ten years, where he was quite influenced by Buddhist painters. He watched them as a boy, and adopted their spontaneous and agile brushstrokes. Some of his works are quite calligraphic and as indecipherable to the viewer as the Chinese characters were enigmatic to him. He speaks of Shanghai as a colorful and magical place, as the Chinese celebrated many aspects of life (ex: weddings, birth, death) with parades of flags and colorful dragons. This influenced Max's artwork which is quite colorful and full of life.


After living in Shanghai, the Max family moved to Israel where Peter's parents were encouraged by his teachers to find him and art teacher. His teachers recognized his artistic talent in notebook sketches. Through his interest in and study of astronomy in Israel, Max gained a sense of spatial relations which evoked in him a spiritual awakening. Influence of his interest in astronomy becomes apparent in his artwork, especially at the end of the 1960's. Then, his art became filled with depictions of stars, planets, and extra-terrestrial worlds.


In 1953, Peter Max set out for the United States with his parents, and stopped on the way to stay in Paris for six months. There he became interested in Classicism and studied statuary in Parisian gardens and paintings in museums. He was impressed with the large size and perfection of the forms he found there.


Peter Max was impressed with Paris, but he really wanted to be in the United States. He had first learned of the U.S. through American comic books in Shanghai. At the age of sixteen he arrived in the U.S., and fell in love with the modernity and culture he found and experienced.


Working realistically was too confining for Max, and so he let loose and started sketching. Meeting the Swami was an inspirational event for Max, and his art became bold with shocking color combos and line work. He has been compared to Vlaminick in his use of bold, arbitrary color and to Matisse in his use of exuberant, seductive line. His artwork is referred to as "Neo-Fauve" due to his daring, passionate approach.


As a young artist in America in the 1960's, Peter Max exploded into the art scene with his "Cosmic Period". A raging success, his work was displayed nationwide from recording studios, to communes, to galleries. His premiere traveling exposition, "The World of Peter Max", was followed by his Eastern European Tour, where he exhibited more than three-hundred original works of art at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and at the Conservatory of Art in Moscow.


Peter Max has been the recipient of over one-hundred prestigious awards. He has put his talent to work in creating numerous magazine covers, posters for events, stamps, etc. He became the major driving force in the renovation of the Statue of Liberty with his series, "Lady of Liberty". He also generated one-hundred portraits of Bill Clinton at the invitation of the Inaugural Committee. These were used in connection with Clinton's inaugural ceremonies.


Peter Max's works are on display in galleries nationwide, and museums worldwide. His artwork is on display in museums such as: the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Musee de l'Affiche, Paris, France; Kunstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria.


After building a one-hundred million dollar business, Max went on an "artistic retreat" to regain the painter within the businessman. He has metamorphosed into one of the greatest artists of our time, as a champion colorist, environmentalist, and conservator of our earth. ...

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