Dressed up for the masked ball

For a few years now, Max Slevogt has been living in Berlin, is a member of the Berlin Secession Artists' Association and is very successful. He is represented by the most influential gallery owners and publishers of the time, Bruno and Paul Cassirer, and is now one of Berlin's avant-garde painters along with Max Liebermann and Lovis Corinth.

"Bal Paré" not only shows the couple's path to a high society social event but also Slevogt's newly acquired self-confidence and his position in the local upper middle class.

Slevogt repeatedly painted his childhood sweetheart Antonie Finkler, known as Nini. Both married in 1898.