"Prisoner", by painter Felix Nussbaum (1940)
Felix Nussbaum was a German-Jewish painter, born in 1904, who died in the Holocaust at the age of 39. In 1940, he was briefly imprisoned in the St. Cyprien concentration camp in German-controlled France. Many other prisoners died in St. Cyprien, mostly from sickness and malnutrition, and Nussbaum was lucky to survive his time there. Prisoner was painted later in 1940, after his release, and reflects upon the horrors he suffered inside the camp, a man stripped of his liberty.
Upon release from St. Cyprien, Nussbaum lived in hiding in Brussels for four years, continuing his work in secret. In 1944, he was arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where he died within a couple of months. He painted fervently right up until the day of his deportation.
Learn more about Felix Nussbaum's life and work here.