The Funeral is a painting by the German Expressionist

Expressionism

Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...

 artist George Grosz

George Grosz

Georg Ehrenfried Groß was a German artist known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s...

 completed between 1917 and 1918. The work mixes elements of Futurism

Futurism

Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century.Futurism or futurist may refer to:* Afrofuturism, an African-American and African diaspora subculture* Cubo-Futurism* Ego-Futurism...

 and Cubism

Cubism

Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...

 to show a funeral procession

Funeral procession

A funeral procession is a procession, usually in motor vehicles, from a church, synagogue, or mosque to the cemetery. The deceased is usually transported in a hearse, while family and friends follow in their vehicles.- Standard procedure :...

, set in a modern urban city, depicted as an infernal

Hell

In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...

 abyss filled with twisted and grotesque human forms.

The Funeral is dedicated to the German psychiatrist and avant-garde writer Oskar Panizza

Oskar Panizza

Leopold Hermann Oskar Panizza was a German psychiatrist and avant-garde author, playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, publisher and literary journal editor...

, noted for his play Liebeskonzil, which references the first historically documented outbreak of syphilis

Syphilis

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...

 and depicts God the Father

God the Father

God the Father is a gendered title given to God in many monotheistic religions, particularly patriarchal, Abrahamic ones. In Judaism, God is called Father because he is the creator, life-giver, law-giver, and protector...

 as a senile old man. Although his works were deemed blasphemous

Blasphemy

Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...

 at the time by both the Church and government of Emperor Wilhelm II, they were greatly admired by the young, idealistic Grosz.

The painting achieves the effect of a hellscape through its colourisation—in particular through its use of red light—and multitude of distorted bodies and limbs. A skeleton representing the Grim Reaper

Death (personification)

The concept of death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood...

 sits on the coffin, drinking alcohol from a bottle. Before and behind him are the mob-like mourners who are depicted as ugly, frenzied and ridden with alcoholism and the madness of late-stage syphilis.

Above the procession, tall buildings induce claustrophobia

Claustrophobia

Claustrophobia is the fear of having no escape and being closed in small spaces or rooms...

, seeming to lean and bend both backwards and forwards, as if about to topple over and onto those gathered below. Among these buildings is a small church, surrounded by bars, nightclubs and offices. Giving a literal voice to the "Dance of Death

Danse Macabre

Dance of Death, also variously called Danse Macabre , Danza de la Muerte , Dansa de la Mort , Danza Macabra , Dança da Morte , Totentanz , Dodendans , is an artistic genre of late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: no matter one's...

" depicted by the artist, a sign over one club reads "DANCE TONIGHT".

Explaining his intention when creating the work, Grosz said,

"In a strange street by night, a hellish procession of dehumanized

Dehumanization

Dehumanization is to make somebody less human by taking away his or her individuality, the creative and interesting aspects of his or her personality, or his or her compassion and sensitivity towards others. Dehumanization may be directed by an organization or may be the composite of individual...

figures mills, their faces reflecting alcohol, syphilis, plague ... I painted this protest against a humanity that had gone insane."

Sources

• Wolf, Norbert; Grosenick, Uta. Expressionism. Taschen, 2004. ISBN 3-8228-2126-8