The Best Physician, c. 1901

Alfred Kubin (1877–1959) once again demonstrates his deeply black humor and his ability to stage horror in an immediate yet elegant manner in his work The Best Physician, which the Upper Austria-based multi-talented artist created around 1901: An emaciated, thin figure that appears to have slid down from its pillows is lying flat on a gathered bedsheet in a dazzlingly white nightshirt that clings tightly to the extremely long, slim body. The figure is squirming and its hands are folded in front of its chest. Its pelvis is tilting up, lifting the hips off the bed. The fragile body is arched – as if the figure were being choked. And indeed: Behind the beam-like structure of the bed, which fills the lower half of the picture with fluffed up pillows at the head and a draped white sheet at the foot that has partly slid off the bed and is streaming into the foreground, Lady Death is standing in a black, strapless tube dress with a medallion dangling in front of her chest. Her stance is slightly bent. Her left bony hand is on her hip while her right hand is on the face of the white-clad figure, violently choking it. The grinning skull is looking directly at the covered face of the dying figure. The scene is executed with fine pen strokes of India ink. The background is kept vague, using spray technique, and enhances the oppressive atmosphere of the terrifying scene.

MH, 2021