An unsettling portrayal of human vulnerability and social decay, Bordell in Gent (Brothel in Ghent) was made during a period of intense personal upheaval for the artist. It is thought to have been conceived during Beckmann’s wartime posting to German-occupied Belgium as a medical orderly prior to his nervous breakdown in May 1915. The scene is decidedly unerotic , depicting a cramped interior populated by prostitutes, soldiers and clients – their gestures tense and mechanical – rendered in rough, almost aggressive linework. Beckmann creates a brutal world, in which pleasure is transactional and human connection is fractured.
The figure on the lower left is reportedly a self-portrait: Beckmann frequently included his likeness, in a variety of guises, to explore the complexities of the self and the human condition. Bordell in Gent reflects the artist’s disillusionment with society and anticipates the unflinching realism of his mature style, with its psychological intensity and social critique.