Peter Max, the artist of “Flower Power” colors, dies at 88

Peter Max, the German-American artist known for his psychedelic art and bold, multicolored palette, has died at the age of 88. His style became one of the defining features of the “Flower Power” movement during the 1960s.

The artist’s family announced his death but did not provide details about the cause. In the final years of his life, Max suffered from serious health problems, including advanced dementia.

Cosmic imagery, flowers and brightly colored figures turned Max into a major name in the pop and psychedelic art of the 1960s. His creations conveyed the optimism and unconventional spirit of the era, spreading beyond galleries onto posters, everyday consumer products, covers and public campaigns.

His name remained famous in the decades that followed. Max’s work was used on postage stamps, on a Boeing 777 and on a cruise ship. He also created works for major sporting events, including the Olympic Games, the Super Bowl, the Indianapolis 500, the World Cup and the World Series.

Born in Berlin in 1937 as Peter Max Finkelstein, the artist came from a Jewish family. As an infant, he left Germany with his family to escape the Nazis and settled in Shanghai.

His life was later connected to Tibet, Israel and Paris, before the family settled in New York when he was 16. In the United States, he began shaping the style that would later make him internationally famous.

He took his first professional steps in graphic design. He later returned to painting and developed a distinctive form of visual expression.

Throughout his artistic career, Max painted portraits of numerous prominent figures, including American presidents, artists and figures from popular culture.

The Statue of Liberty was one of the motifs that appeared most frequently in his work and eventually became a characteristic symbol of the artist’s creativity.

Max believed that art should reach a broad public. For this reason, he placed painting in direct connection with everyday life and mass culture.

His work remains part of the creative legacy of the 1960s, a period when art, music and counterculture in the United States brought about a new aesthetic whose influence extended beyond the country.