The Night, plate seven from Die Hölle

This print is by far the most well known in the series Hell, reproducing as it does a composition and scene made famous in a painting by Max Beckmann created in March 1919. An average middle-class family is being tortured for no apparent reason by both well-dressed members of German society, like the man in the center, and a working-class figure in a cap at the right. Beckmann revealed, seemingly without comment, the randomness of violence, as well as its everyday quality (exemplified by the “normal” interior). The howling dog to the left parallels the image of hell from the opening print.