The Night (Die Nacht)

1918–19

Oil on canvas, 134 × 155 cm. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf

In a cramped room, a man is strangled with a cord, a woman is tied by her wrists, and a child is carried off. Violence breaks into a private home.

An inscription at lower left dates the work from August 1918 to March 1919.
Look at the two candles at the bottom of the picture, one lying flat on the floorboards.
Hard outlines and chalky flesh make the bodies look stiff, almost wooden.
Tilted beams and packed limbs leave no open space, so the viewer is pressed into the scene. The effect is discomfort, not description.
Bought by the museum in 1963. Its early-1930s ownership is unclear; heirs of possible earlier owners want it back, and the museum plans to refer the case to Germany's new arbitration panel.