George Bellows
The Germans Arrive, 1918
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

This blog entry provides the historical context for this horrifying yet masterly picture.

https://mydailyartdisplay.uk/tag/the-germans-arrive-by-george-bellows/

I would add additional observations regarding the atrocity depicted.

As the blogger notes, there was a tendency in the twenties to dismiss this kind o image as just one of the fabrications of allied war propaganda. In more recent years, historians have agreed that the German army did carry out atrocities in Belgium, but the extent, organization, and motivation of these acts are disputed.

We might also see these atrocities in Europe in the context of European imperialism. The Germans were reimporting to Europe the brutalities Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Russia, and, of course, Germany and Belgium themselves had inflicted upon the inhabitants of their empires.

The positioning of the rifles of group on the right suggests that Bellows is making an ironical reference here to "The Surrender of Breda" , commonly known as "The Lances". Goya's depiction of the atrocities in Spain of a century before is another influence at work here.

#GeorgeBellows #WarSeries #Atrocities #FirstWorldWar #Art #Painting #HorrorsOfWar