A controversial 1887 painting that was rejected by Berlin's art establishment for fear it might mock the German emperor is finally being displayed in a state museum. The work, Mors Imperator ('Death is the Ruler') by Hermione von Preuschen, depicts a skeleton in a cloak knocking over a royal throne.
The 2.5-metre by 1.3-metre painting was originally submitted to the Berlin Academy of the Arts' annual exhibition but was refused entry. Authorities worried it could be seen as ridiculing the ageing German Emperor Wilhelm I, who had recently turned 90. The incident highlights how single-ruler autocracies can be paranoid about hidden meanings in art.
Von Preuschen, a poet, world traveller and painter known for her large-scale works, was an early advocate for women's rights. She wrote to the emperor explaining her intentions, and his secretary replied that the monarch had no issue with the subject. However, the academy later claimed it had rejected the painting on artistic merit, calling it 'the inartistic expression of a skewed thought'.
The artist then hired a shop in central Berlin to exhibit the painting, charging an admission fee equivalent to €8 today. The exhibition became the talk of the town and made her famous overnight. Mors Imperator was sold to a Swiss businessman in 1892, and after von Preuschen's death in 1918, her remaining works were donated to a small museum.
Now, more than 100 years later, the painting is being shown at the Alte Nationalgalerie museum in Berlin until mid-November. Curator Birgit Verwiebe said von Preuschen was bold and self-assured but not political, and there is no evidence of any anti-monarchical intent. The coat of arms on the throne was a creative invention, possibly based on French royal insignia.
The painting's central message—that death overrules earthly authority—proved prescient: Wilhelm I died shortly after the painting's completion on 9 March 1888, a year known in Germany as the 'Year of the Three Emperors'.
