Felix Nussbaum, “Selbstbildnis mit Judenpass (Self-Portrait with Jewish Identity Card),” 1943

This painful self-portrait was painted in Belgium during the height of the war, when the artist and his family were actively hiding from the Nazis.

The way he captures the emotion of the time is extremely powerful. The fear and secrecy in his eyes, as well as the conspiratorial look toward the viewer speak to how it felt to be a Jew in constant danger of being captured. He painted this picture after his parents and brother had been found and deported. What speaks the most to me about this picture is that, despite the horrors around him, he is still so proud of his culture that he would paint his own likeness displaying his culture, even knowing the risk it put him in.

He and his wife were captured and killed in Auschwitz the next year.