George Grosz
1893 Berlin, Germany
1959 Berlin, Germany

Der Liebeskranke
Sick of Love
1916
Oil on canvas
Acquired 1979

George Grosz was regarded as an enfant terrible by Berlin society. He liked to shock onlookers with his attire and powdered face like a death mask, and he called himself “Graf Ehrenfried.” In this painting, the last guest sitting in the Café des Westens in Berlin is the artist himself, surrounded by the utensils of his addiction. In his breast pocket is a gun, which was part of his getup as king of the lowlifes and someone tired of living. The ostentatious decadence of the morbid dandy must have seemed like a slap in the face for the soldiers serving on the front in the war year of 1916. The plunging perspectives, distorted proportions, and caricature-like exaggerations used by Grosz are essential stylistic elements of Expressionism. The dynamic spatial representation also alludes to Futurism, without its enthusiasm for the big city and its faith in technology.

thank’s joe lol

my german girlfriends came to visit

wayward vampire . . .

i love smelling like masculine woods and fresh dirt . . .

elina is still here and we’ve watched 100 movies by this point lol

big sigh

just as she’d promised, my little sister elina the estonian girl was waiting for me at berlin airport when i flew in from amsterdam this afternoon

i missed my connecting flight from amsterdam to berlin so they fed me and put me up in this nice hotel near the airport

this room gives me the uncanny feeling of being inside an ikea showroom apartment

if you live in the greater metropolitan area of amsterdam and want to chill, come on over

the shower has great acoustics and there’s free tea and coffee . . .

you have until 8 am central european time!!!

(the tall beautiful dutch woman at the front desk asked me to sign something saying i would not smoke in the room, and i said “i refuse. i will be smoking my corncob pipe in bed till sunrise” and she smiled and winked at me lol)

i had no idea i was flying back to europe in the opposite direction in which i had come . . . i assumed i was somewhere over mongolia when my sister told me i was flying over the arctic ocean near alaska

also aww all my little friends lol