Nächtliche Stadtszene (Nocturnal City scene) [p. 8] 

This is Max Beckmann's sketch, "Nocturnal City Scene," created sometime before 1950. Beckmann, living through both World Wars, saw his work labeled as degenerate by the Nazis, and this experience profoundly shaped his artistic vision. The sketch presents a fractured urban landscape, a jumble of lines and geometric shapes. It reflects the emotional and physical fragmentation experienced by many during the tumultuous early 20th century. The scene evokes a sense of alienation and disorientation, mirroring the artist's own displacement and sense of being an outsider. Beckmann once said, "What I want to show in my work is the idea which hides itself behind so-called reality." Consider how this sketch, with its stark lines, captures not the literal city, but the hidden anxieties and realities of urban life. It speaks to the broader societal issues of displacement and the search for identity in a world that often feels chaotic and incomprehensible.