Although Beckmann is considered one of the towering figures of 20th-century art, he has never been a household name, and his works have mostly appealed to a niche market of German and Austrian collectors. In 1921 Beckmann signed an exclusive contract with the print-dealer J. B. Neumann in Berlin. In 1938 he had the first of numerous exhibitions at Curt Valentin’s Buchholz Gallery, New York. Today, his large paintings routinely sell for more than $1 million, and his self-portraits generally command the highest prices. In 2001, Ronald Lauder paid $22.5 million, a record for the artist, at Sotheby's New York for Beckmann’sSelf-Portrait with Horn (1938), and displayed it at the Neue Galerie in New York.
