polity west germanyconcept:era contemporary

The Big Night Down the Drain

Oil on canvas (1962–1963) by Georg Baselitz. Depicts a large male figure with an oversized penis in a raw, physically confrontational style. Confiscated by West Berlin prosecutors in 1963 as obscene at its first exhibition; returned after legal proceedings. The scandal established Baselitz as a provocateur and neo-expressionist force.

Scholarly Significance

Baselitz's The Big Night Down the Drain (1962-63) was confiscated by West Berlin authorities as obscene — the scandal that established his reputation. Marks the beginning of German Neo-Expressionism.

Notes

·Exhibited in 1963 at the Galerie Werner & Katz in West Berlin as part of Baselitz's first solo exhibition.
·West Berlin public prosecutors confiscated the painting and another work (Naked Man) on charges of obscenity.
·The legal proceedings lasted until 1965; the painting was eventually returned.
·The title is a colloquial German expression meaning roughly 'the whole big night is a mess' — combining grandeur and failure.
·The work's scale (250 × 180 cm) and the confrontational subject deliberately cited postwar German painting traditions while pushing beyond accepted boundaries.
·The scandal brought Baselitz to public attention and aligned him with the transgressive tendencies of neo-expressionism.
·Now held by Museum Ludwig, Cologne.