BERTHOLD GENZMER (Boggusch Pologne actuelle, 1858... Lot 43

BERTHOLD GENZMER (Boggusch [Pologne actuelle], 1858 - Berlin, 1927) THE SCREAM Oil on canvas 58 x 40 cm Monogrammed lower right and dated 22 In this "disturbing strangeness" (Sigmund Freud), the artist depicts a man in a suit, his chest slightly shifted backwards and his gaze seized with fear. The source of this uneasiness is unknown. Perhaps we should look at the context in which this work was created. The Germany of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933), although it was a long-lasting country, experienced many crises. Paul Morand (1888-1976) wrote: "London, New York [...] had their eyes on us [...]. I am not talking about Berlin, which was writhing in the throes of devaluation, hunger and expressionism. If the title of the painting may bring to mind the famous 1893 composition by Edvard Munch (1863-1944) in the National Gallery in Oslo, it is more in the direction of painters such as Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) or Egon Schiele (1890-1918) that similarities can be found. Although the pictorial treatment differs, in each of these artists we find the same desire to express the inner life of the models through the expressiveness of the form. But if there is an obvious connection, it is undoubtedly with the self-portraits of Lucian Freud (1922-2011), painted some forty years later.