Danse nue
1922
Max Beckmann channels his trauma from World War I into this biting critique of 1920s Berlin nightlife. In 'Nackttanz' (Nude Dance), raw, energetic dancers on stage are juxtaposed against a grotesque audience of champagne-sipping bourgeois figures with mask-like, distorted faces. This piece is a prime example of German Expressionism, using jagged lines to expose the moral decay and superficiality of the Weimar Republic. Beckmann, who suffered a nervous breakdown during the war, saw this decadent society as dancing on the edge of a volcano, completely detached from reality.
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