Suicide 1916 by George Groszand how it is related to the theory of art

Suicide 1916 was painted by a German artist named George Grosz (1893-1958) during the period of First World. This period of the time informs us about how tough his life could have been to go through it. This painting most probably was made in 1916 shortly after the painter having to be discharged from the German Army for medical reasons. From the description of Suicide 1916, I could also notice that he left Europe for USA with the anger and disappointment he got from his country and the European society.

In my opinion, Grosz painted this work aiming at the Germany society to express his anger and the hatred for the outbreak of the War. He tried to show his despair, hate and disillusionment caused by the War through this painting which tells us how the pervasive moral corruption took place in Berlin during the War time.

Suicide 1916 shows dogs roaming past the abandoned bodies of suicides in red nocturnal streets as well as the inclusion of an aged client visiting a prostitute. This scene was most likely painted by the artist who had purpose to describe German soldiers’ rude and immoral behavior without any dignity during the War. Suicide 1916 can also be one of those propagandas that existed in different forms like film, music, literature and design that was created to be ironic in that period of time.

Art is being studied as one of the Areas of Knowledge by us although it very differs from rest of the areas we study. The reason for this is because art is far more subjective then other Areas of Knowledge that is very objective.

Mathematics can be referred as a good case to describe this. Mathematics use numbers and symbols to represent the idea and knowledge therefore there can’t be a counter argument for it unlike art where many different ideas can be consulted. This piece of art also shows the relationship between Emotion and Art itself by letting us know the artist expressed all his emotional feelings into his work when painting it. The reason to why art can’t convey the exactly the same knowledge to us is because art most of the times is subjective and this is all to do with Emotion.

Suicide 1916 was exhibited in a comparably small dark room at the history section where there were many art works sharing several similarities between each of them. Most of the Art pieces found in that section was painted based upon the historical events that occurred in the past. In that room where Suicide 1916 was presented, art was functioning as the bridge that connects the past and the present to deliver us the knowledge of historical events that took place.

As I mentioned above, this piece of work was located in a room quite small and dark where it created the mood for us to concentrate better and to provide us the opportunity to be at the atmosphere of mesmerizing moment. The intension of the Museum for placing this painting in a room like this was probably originated from the knowledge that environment and the atmosphere plays a huge role in art to affect our senses of perceiving the works.

One other thing that helped us to appreciate and understand the paintings better can be the descriptions of the paintings that were placed right next to each of them. These descriptions helped us to know more in depths about the intension of the artists and the painting itself.

It is obvious that art isn’t exactly the same as other Areas of Knowledge. It is surely more subjective and has no definite truth. But the fact that it contains at least a form of knowledge within itself and it has the ability to convey us the knowledge it contains, why can’t it be just like other knowledge we learn from? It is for sure, depended on individuals how art can be judged whether as a knowledge or something else than that. But knowing all the characteristics of art, the society should take a side in accepting it then rejecting it.