An exploration of the important role that art and artists played in Germany in the first half of the twentieth century

Highlighting the influences and antipathies among art, politics, identity, and censorship, this book brings together more than seventy painting and sculptures from the distinguished modern art collections of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, including works by artists such as Max Beckmann, George Grosz, Wassily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Käthe Kollwitz, Gabriele Münter, and Christian Schad. The book's insightful essays explore the histories of the artists, their artistic movements, and German museums through the political upheavals of the first half of the twentieth century, providing a sense for the German experience of art through four tumultuous decades. Beginning with the Expressionists and their opposition to the conservative artistic regime of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the book moves through the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement that typifyied the modern style of the 1920s; the international vanguards and varieties of abstraction of the interwar period; and the strident artistic challenges to war and Nazi repression. Also included are works that help readers contextualize the ambiguous aftermath of World War II. Essays and a detailed chronology enrich the full scope of the brilliant masterworks showcased in the book.

Distributed for the Kimbell Art Museum

Exhibition schedule:

Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX

(March 30–June 22, 2025)

Albuquerque Museum of Art, NM

(August 23, 2025–January 4, 2026)

Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN

(March 7–July 19, 2026)