This painting dominates a whole wall in the exhibit at the Neue Sachlichkeit / New Objectivity exhibit at the Neue Gallery in NYC. It’s Eclipse of the Sun, by George Grosz (1893–1959) and painted in 1926. There’s a short video with an overview and introduction to the exhibit at the link The exhibit features over 140 works by more than 60 artists. It runs until May 26 2025 and is well worth a visit.
It’s a nightmarish vision of political and economic corruption in the Weimar Republic. It’s packed with symbolism and the more you look at it the more you see. This account of the allegory is written with the help of Wikipedia. it’s too bad that the picture was poorly lit in the galley and had a bad shine right where the dollar sign sun is on the top left of the painting.
At the center, we have President Paul von Hindenburg with his long mustache and military uniform, bristling with his military medals. Behind him the city is burning. He teeth are bared. He wears a crown of laurels but in front of him on the table is a bloody sword and a funerary cross — symbolic reminders of the over two million German soldiers who died in WW1 under his leadership.
Around Hindenburg, a group of headless bureaucrats in formal attire sit at the table—figures of authority, politicians, who have surrendered independent thought, blindly following orders from the real power players: the industrialists and financiers. One such well-fed industrialist wearing a top hat firmly in place, leans in to whisper in the president’s ear. Under his arm, he clutches small weapons and a miniature train This is the military-industrial complex profiting from war and economic turmoil.
In the foreground, a donkey wearing blinders stands precariously on a board tied to a skeleton, its face turned toward a feeding trough full of papers. The blinders are decorated with the German eagle. The symbolism is clear – the donkey represents the German people who are blindly consuming the fodder put in the trough before them.
Meanwhile, in the lower right, a prisoner peers out from behind bars, his face barely visible beneath the table where the headless officials rest their feet. Power and privilege, it seems, are built on the backs of the oppressed.
Towering over it all is the eclipsed sun, its light blocked by a dollar sign—a not-so-subtle jab at the overwhelming influence of American finance in Germany’s struggling economy after World War I. In Grosz’s bleak vision, money overshadows morality, and those in charge are either complicit or too blind to see where things are headed.
Where are the women?
Degenerate art makes for a biting critique. No wonder the Nazis were soon to start condemning it.
Now skip across the Atlantic and forward a century and into the White House. The parallels aren’t exact, but what do you see?
Timeless degenerate art.
You said already what I was going to say about historical recurrences; is simple stupidity to blame, or an inherent inability?
So many extraordinary paintings in this exhibit. This was certainly a standout, a real coup for Huntington, its permanent home. The Galerie really should have done a much better job with the lighting, though. No matter where one stood, there was glare. Given the dollar sign ambience of this museum, there really is no excuse. Just the same, a brilliant exhibit.
If only Elon wore a top hat!
This even looks like a bloated version of him. And we all know Musk has the US armaments industry under his crooked arm.
Thanks so much for explaining the symbolism of this painting, Josie. It’s fascinating but proves, if we didn’t already know, history just keeps on repeating itself and we never learn.
When it comes to art history this applies to me:
“A little learning is a dangerous thing ;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring :
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again”
(Yes, I have been reading Pope this week, although not that.)
The painting is amazing though. And with a little help (i.e identifying Hindenburg) the symbolism is so strong it hits you over the head with a tyre iron.
And the parallels to 2025 ….
(And maybe: ’twas ever thus.)