What do I see in this delightful example of art? Well, kittens and butterflies and happy little children of course. And when I say that, I mean of course not. Actually, I don't think this should be considered Macabre at all, personally. Why? Because I think this image was made to be real representation of something, not just the product of an artist's nightmares.
How is this real? Well, I'm glad you asked. This painting captures the final moments of the starved, beaten, and horribly suffering prisoners of the holocaust. Yes, this is a gas chamber.
Brutal soldiers, people who can hardly be called human, shove their most worthless and tired prisoners into the chamber. They are naked, sick, and almost starved to death. They know the end had come, but there is nothing that they can do about it. They're packed into the concrete bunker like sardines, with barely enough room to stand or turn around. Then the gas is turned on; you can see the fumes clearly in the painting, filling the entire room, while the occupants choke and gasp for air, using whatever oxygen they have left to cry out and beg their captures for mercy, for release. But this is to no avail; their endless suffering is finally ended when the gas squeezes the last of their lives out of their broken bodies. This painting is a mere snapshot of this, the final, painful end to months or even years of the most horrible suffering in the hands of the Nazis.
In my opinion, this is really twisted Macabre, because this was a real fate of 12 million people.
I enjoyed your interpretation of the piece, I'm pretty sure what anyone who's ever heard of WWII drew this connection, and I agree with it's twistedness. However I believe this was the true intent of the artist, to bring awareness to the horrors of the Holocaust. Good job on this one my friend.
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