Peace II

Peace II is an oil-on-canvas painting by German American artist George Grosz, created in 1946.

Peace II was the second version that he did of a painting in which he envisioned Germany as it was after the end of the war.

The painting has an apocalyptic atmosphere, being dominated by dark and reddish colours, which suggest a warlike scenario, with ongoing bombings or fires and destruction.

The artist depicts himself as a grim figure at the center of the composition, emerging from the ruins of a building and surrounded by rubble, as if he were a survivor in a devastated world.

The work can be interpreted as a mourning for his mother, who had died during the late conflict, and for the current state of Germany.