Social tensions, political struggles, societal upheavals, and the existential experience of World War I defined life in Germany during the 1910s to 1930s. The Franz Marc Museum in Kochel am See will delve into the art of this epoch with a new thematic exhibition. Featuring around 50 works, including notable graphic series, sculptures, and paintings by artists such as Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Käthe Kollwitz, Else Lasker-Schüler, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Wilhelm Lehmbruck, the exhibition holds a mirror to the society of that time. These works are like fragments of a historical mosaic, offering diverse perspectives on the condition of German society during this period.

At the heart of the exhibition lies the experience of World War I, which drove many artists to seek new forms of expression to reflect the altered reality. The war left deep scars, and the social hardships were impossible to overlook. Above all, the impoverished proletariat suffered from political instability and social inequality.

Artists captured these human struggles: in the works of Grosz and Kollwitz, despair, hopelessness, and the daily fight for survival are etched into the faces of their figures. At the same time, art served as a means to process personal traumatic experiences, as powerfully illustrated in the works of Dix and Lehmbruck.

However, the art of this era was not solely focused on war and social suffering. The thriving entertainment industry of the time—circuses, fairs, and variety shows—offered an escape from memories of wartime trauma and became a popular subject for artists. These spaces of distraction also symbolized a crumbling social order. The depictions of clowns, acrobats, and outsiders by Max Beckmann or Ernst Ludwig Kirchner reflect a break with bourgeois norms, placing society’s marginalized figures at the center of attention.

The exhibition is complemented by Anselm Kiefer’s vitrine Mohn und Gedächtnis (Poppy and Memory) from his series Opus Magnum. Kiefer belongs to the first generation of German artists to directly confront their country’s fraught history and German identity after World War II and the Holocaust. This work addresses themes of collective memory, what has been forgotten or buried, and the responsibility borne by subsequent generations. Kiefer’s art underscores that the artistic engagement with war trauma and the past remains a timeless subject, resonating far beyond the early 20th century and into the present day.

 

Otto Dix, Der Krieg, folio 4 of the 1st portfolio: Trichterfeld bei Dotrien von Leuchtkugeln erhellt, (Detail) 1924, etching, Etta and Otto Stangl Foundation, Franz Marc Museum

Max Beckmann, Jahrmarkt, folio 8: Die Seiltänzer (Detail), 1921, etching on wove paper, Ahlers Pro Arte Foundation, Franz Marc Museum

Käthe Kollwitz, Bauernkrieg, folio 1: Die Pflüger, (Detail) vor 1907, etching/aquatint, Etta and Otto Stangl Foundation, Franz Marc Museum