War and Revolution in the Weimar Republic

The opening years of Germany’s Weimar Republic (1918–33) were defined by intense inner turmoil. The country was reeling from its defeat in World War I (1914–18), the economy had been decimated by the manipulation of inflation by industrialists and the state in order to wipe out war reparations to France, and revolutionary coup attempts from both the Left and the Right rattled the ruling powers. Otto Dix and Max Beckmann held different but comparable views of the November Revolution (1918) and the war. In their well-known print cycles, each experimented with form and content to reflect on the crisis of German modernity.

_{Max Beckmann. The Night, plate seven from Hell (Die Hölle), 1919. Restricted gift of Dr. and Mrs. Martin Gecht.}