One of the author&#x27;s first arguments is a common one, but one that I think is an oversimplification: That after WWI art started depicting the awfulness that Europeans had suddenly been exposed to, and therefore became &quot;unpatronable&quot; in the traditional sense since it wasnt pretty pictures of lily pads anymore.<p>Look up fin de siecle Vienna if you aren&#x27;t familiar with it. Decades before the war, artists in every discipline were pushing in weird directions (not necessarily in a bad way!).<p>I think its important to recognize this. Then more than now art was an important aspect of everyday life, and I dont think they write in history books that &quot;many people in Austria and Germany were going batshit crazy&quot; was an important part of the classic WWI &quot;powderkeg&quot;.