In the early 1940’s, the Dutchman Aart van Breda was living in Antwerp, working as an illustrator. Belgium had been occupied by Nazi German military forces. Conditions were miserable, and no one knew when—or if—the situation would improve. In this drawing, which looks to the Expressionist art that Germans had used to criticize their own country in preceding decades, Van Breda lays bare the despair and depravity of a people who have lost hope.
