--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Berlin. November 18, 1917. Sunday. I…" description: "\"“Berlin. November 18, 1917. Sunday. I think Grosz has something demonic in him. This new Berlin art in general, Grosz, Becher, Benn, Wieland Herzfelde,..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2be/harry-kessler-186682_art_berlin-november-18-1917-sunday-i-think-g_2012355.jpg" --- # Berlin. November 18, 1917. Sunday. I think Grosz has… ![“Berlin. November 18, 1917. Sunday. I think Grosz has something demonic in him. This new Berlin art in general, Grosz, Becher, Benn, Wieland Herzfelde, is most curious. Big city art, with a tense density of impressions that appears simultaneous, brutally realistic, and at the same time…” quote by Harry Kessler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2be/harry-kessler-186682_art_berlin-november-18-1917-sunday-i-think-g_2012355.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2be/harry-kessler-186682_art_berlin-november-18-1917-sunday-i-think-g_2012355.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2be/harry-kessler-186682_art_berlin-november-18-1917-sunday-i-think-g_2012355.jpg) > ““Berlin. November 18, 1917. Sunday. I think Grosz has something demonic in him. This new Berlin art in general, Grosz, Becher, Benn, Wieland Herzfelde, is most curious. Big city art, with a tense density of impressions that appears simultaneous, brutally realistic, and at the same time fairy-tale-like, just like the big city itself, illuminating things harshly and distortedly as with searchlights and then disappearing in the glow. A highly nervous, cerebral, illusionist art, and in this respect reminiscent of the music hall and also of film, or at least of a possible, still unrealized film. An art of flashing lights with a perfume of sin and perversity like every nocturnal street in the big city. The precursors are E.T.A. Hoffmann, Breughel, Mallarmé, Seurat, Lautrec, the futurists: but in the density and organization of the overwhelming abundance of sensation, the brutal reality, the Berliners seem new to me. Perhaps one could also include Stravinsky here (Petrushka). Piled-up ornamentation each of which expresses a trivial reality but which, in their sum and through their relations to each other, has a thoroughly un-trivial impact. All round the world war rages and in the center is this nervous city in which so much presses and shoves, so many people and streets and lights and colors and interests: politics and music hall, business and yet also art, field gray, privy counselors, chansonettes, and right and left, and up and down, somewhere, very far away, the trenches, regiments storming over to attack, the dying, submarines, zeppelins, airplane squadrons, columns marching on muddy streets, Hindenburg and Ludendorff, victories; Riga, Constantinople, the Isonzo, Flanders, the Russian Revolution, America, the Anzacs and the poilus, the pacifists and the wild newspaper people. And all ending up in the half-darkened Friedrichstrasse, filled with people at night, unconquerable, never to be reached by Cossacks, Gurkhas, Chasseurs d'Afrique, Bersaglieris, and cowboys, still not yet dishonored, despite the prostitutes who pass by. If a revolution were to break out here, a powerful upheaval in this chaos, barricades on the Friedrichstrasse, or the collapse of the distant parapets, what a spark, how the mighty, inextricably complicated organism would crack, how like the Last Judgment! And yet we have experienced, have caused precisely this to happen in Liège, Brussels, Warsaw, Bucharest, even almost in Paris. That's the world war, all right.”” Harry Kessler ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Berlin's chaotic wartime art reflects intense, layered sensations, mixing brutal realism with fantastical elements, mirroring the city's turmoil. **In simple terms:** War-torn Berlin art blends harsh reality with fantasy. Key Takeaway Observe how conflict shapes artistic expression. Themes art war urban chaos history surrealism Mood historical analytical poetic Type Art:1 Artist:1 Berlin:1 Big city:1 Music:0 Russian revolution:1 World war:1 Berlin Art:1 Berlin November:0 Darkened Friedrichstrasse:0 Reality Berliners:0 When to use this quote - museum visits - historical research - art criticism - urban exploration Key Concepts cultural history visual analysis political commentary Questions to Reflect On - How does art capture wartime emotions? - What does surrealism reveal about society? A Different Perspective Interpretations vary by viewer. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/berlin/) [Big city](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/big-city/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Russian revolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/russian-revolution/) [World war](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-war/) ## Related quotes > [ \[Marxism will\] in a generation or so \[go\] into the limbo of most heresies, but meanwhile it will have poisoned the Russian Revolution. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/marxism-will-in-a-generation-or-so-go-into-the-limbo-of-most-heresies/) [Gilbert K. 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November 18, 1917. Sunday. I think Grosz has something demonic in him. This new Berlin art in general, Grosz, Becher, Benn, Wieland Herzfelde, is most curious. Big city art, with a tense density of impressions that appears simultaneous, brutally realistic, and at the same time fairy-tale-like, just like the big city itself, illuminating things harshly and distortedly as with searchlights and then disappearing in the glow. A highly nervous, cerebral, illusionist art, and in this respect reminiscent of the music hall and also of film, or at least of a possible, still unrealized film. An art of flashing lights with a perfume of sin and perversity like every nocturnal street in the big city. The precursors are E.T.A. Hoffmann, Breughel, Mallarmé, Seurat, Lautrec, the futurists: but in the density and organization of the overwhelming abundance of sensation, the brutal reality, the Berliners seem new to me. Perhaps one could also include Stravinsky here (Petrushka). Piled-up ornamentation each of which expresses a trivial reality but which, in their sum and through their relations to each other, has a thoroughly un-trivial impact. All round the world war rages and in the center is this nervous city in which so much presses and shoves, so many people and streets and lights and colors and interests: politics and music hall, business and yet also art, field gray, privy counselors, chansonettes, and right and left, and up and down, somewhere, very far away, the trenches, regiments storming over to attack, the dying, submarines, zeppelins, airplane squadrons, columns marching on muddy streets, Hindenburg and Ludendorff, victories; Riga, Constantinople, the Isonzo, Flanders, the Russian Revolution, America, the Anzacs and the poilus, the pacifists and the wild newspaper people. And all ending up in the half-darkened Friedrichstrasse, filled with people at night, unconquerable, never to be reached by Cossacks, Gurkhas, Chasseurs d'Afrique, Bersaglieris, and cowboys, still not yet dishonored, despite the prostitutes who pass by. If a revolution were to break out here, a powerful upheaval in this chaos, barricades on the Friedrichstrasse, or the collapse of the distant parapets, what a spark, how the mighty, inextricably complicated organism would crack, how like the Last Judgment! And yet we have experienced, have caused precisely this to happen in Liège, Brussels, Warsaw, Bucharest, even almost in Paris. 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