Akt II (Woman Seated in Front of a Mirror)

A woman sits before a mirror, vaguely gazing at her own reflection. Heavy charcoal lines delineate her silhouette.
It appears to be a sketch depicting a city woman's daily routine, a tranquil moment of grooming in her private room.

However, in reality, this painting does not depict peaceful repose. It portrays a sense of inescapable stagnation and a person who has lost themselves.

In 1920, Berlin. Hermann Max Pechstein was 38 years old. What awaited him upon his return from the war was not the paradise he once knew. The city was overflowing with the unemployed, and rampant inflation plagued the people. His brushwork, which once celebrated nature, underwent a sharp transformation. Thick, angular, and imposing lines emerged, casting a shadow of the anxiety that permeated post-war German society.