George Grosz’s “Eclipse of the Sun” at 100

Karli Wurzelbacher, Chief Curator, The Hecksher Museum of Art

George Grosz’s (1893–1959) Eclipse of the Sun (1926) – currently on loan to Neue Galerie New York from the Heckscher Museum of Art for the exhibition “Neue Sachlichkeit / New Objectivity” – is an iconic work that critiques the greed and violence of Weimar Germany’s military, politicians, and industrialists through its jarring imagery and dissonant colors. Grosz fled Nazi Germany in 1933, later settling in Long Island, New York, where he continued creating politically charged art, including his “Stick Men” series. In 1968, the Heckscher Museum acquired Eclipse of the Sun with the help of the local community. In this lecture, Karli Wurzelbacher, Chief Curator at the Heckscher Museum of Art, explores the painting’s significance and Grosz’s later career, previewing a 2026 exhibition that will place Eclipse of the Sun alongside political works by his peers and contemporary artists like Allora & Calzadilla, Joe Overstreet, and Howardena Pindell.