Solar dance

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In Modris Eksteins’s exploration, the intertwined narratives of Vincent van Gogh and art dealer Otto Wacker illuminate the origins of the uncertainty defining the modern era. Through Wacker’s sensational 1932 trial in Berlin for selling counterfeit Van Goghs, Eksteins crafts a unique account of Weimar Germany, the ascent of Hitler, and the shift from nineteenth-century certitude to twentieth-century doubt. Post-Great War Berlin became a hub for art and transgression, drawing figures like Wacker, a young gay dancer turned art impresario. His sale of thirty-three forged Van Goghs not only elevated the commercial value of Van Gogh’s work but also questioned the integrity of established values that had begun to erode during the war. Van Gogh emerged as a posthumous hero, rejecting organized religion and authority in favor of art, resonating with self-pitying Germans who found in his life a narrative of triumph over defeat and meaninglessness. Eksteins illustrates how the collapsing Weimar Republic, which amplified Van Gogh’s fame and provided Wacker a chance for reinvention, also enabled Hitler to exploit the void left by a disintegrating belief system, crafting myths of mastery. Blending cultural and political history, this narrative reveals how early twentieth-century upheavals spurred a quest for authenticity and purpose.