The theme of this painting is generational conflict. A group of young artists unload their paintings outside the Prussian Academy of the Arts. Distinguished professors parade towards the entrance. In the background we see Max Liebermann (1847–1935), the academy’s president, on the roof of his townhouse. He is working on a self-portrait, while nearby the goddess Victoria has lost her balance and drops her laurel wreath, a symbol of victory and success.
Liebermann and his contemporaries – once feted as “rebels” at the dawn of the century – now dismissed the art of a younger generation and stood in the way of new trends.