Peter Max
1937–2026German-American artist renowned for the psychedelic and pop art that helped define the visual culture of the 1960s counterculture.
Particulars
Peter Max was a German-American painter and graphic artist celebrated for his euphoric, Day-Glo compositions of stars, rainbows, and cosmic imagery that captured the spirit of the 1960s. Born Peter Max Finkelstein in 1937 in Berlin, he emigrated with his family as a child, eventually settling in the United States, where he developed the bold, color-saturated style that made his work synonymous with the era's psychedelic and pop art.
His imagery appeared everywhere from magazine covers and posters to billboards and consumer products, and he became fabulously wealthy by licensing his paintings across a vast range of merchandise. Max's art evolved beyond the counterculture years, and he remained productive and commercially prolific into his later decades, though his later years were marked by declining health and legal disputes over his work and care.
Throughout his career Max exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide and created artworks for major public events, cementing his reputation as one of the most recognizable visual artists of his generation.
Compiled from source reports and Wikipedia. Automated record.