Kleine Strasse 1916

Editor: This is Max Beckmann's "Kleine Strasse," an etching, and it feels to me like a crowded street scene, maybe a little unsettling, like a bad dream. What do you see in it? Curator: It has that Beckmann flavor, doesn't it? I see a fractured narrative, a collection of faces almost pressing in on us. Notice how the etching lines create such claustrophobia, a real feeling of being trapped. It's like peering into the artist's subconscious, wouldn't you agree? Editor: Definitely! It makes me think about how anxiety can feel physically overwhelming. I'm glad I got a chance to look at it closer! Curator: Me too. Art's like a Rorschach test, isn't it? We all see a bit of ourselves reflected back.