Self-portrait in hiding place

After the "seizure of power" by the National Socialists the Jewish painter Felix Nussbaum (1904-1944) remained a scholar in Italy and emigrated to Belgium in 1935 with his later wife Felka. The couple went underground but they were betrayed. In the summer of 1944, both were deported to Auschwitz and murdered there. In this painting, Nussbaum portrayed himself in his hiding place as pious Jew, with his wife Felka and Jaqui, another persecuted person. The only hope left for them is the map on the wall, which could open a window into the future.