The Ideologues, plate six from Die Hölle

This circle of intellectual leaders (with the artist himself as the shadowy figure in the center with his hand over his mouth) does not inspire confidence, given the relative visual chaos of line and composition. Max Beckmann here caricatured Max Hermann-Neiße, Annette Kolb, and Heinrich Mann, among others. In this cycle, he implicated all possible groups in Weimar society, while he himself took on various roles, sometimes as a participant and sometimes as an observer. His shifting position contrasts with Otto Dix’s more consistent attitude in his self-portrayals as a soldier in key segments of War.