Max Klinger

Max Klinger is presented as an interlocutor in a brief exchange with Ernst Kirchner about the burning of Kirchner’s paintings. By asking Kirchner to explain his pride in their destruction, Klinger gives the artist room to recast political rejection as a mark of artistic opposition.

Appearance in the Dialogue

Klinger’s entire recorded contribution is a question: “What do you mean?” It follows Kirchner’s admission that he is glad—or, more precisely, proud—that the brownshirts are burning his paintings. Klinger does not argue or offer an interpretation of his own; his question prompts Kirchner to clarify the feeling behind the statement.

Relationship to Kirchner’s Argument

Kirchner explains that the prospect of the brownshirts tolerating his work would be worse than seeing it destroyed. The exchange therefore turns on a reversal: the burning is an act of persecution, but Kirchner presents the persecutors’ rejection as preferable to their approval. Klinger’s brief question is the hinge of that reasoning, making the distinction between destruction and ideological acceptance explicit without resolving the tension between them.