Beckmann fled Germany in 1937, taking refuge in Amsterdam, where he painted this still life during the final months of World War II. He combines a modern style of flattened space, schematic forms, and intense colors with traditional still-life objects-skulls, an extinguished candle, playing cards-that suggest the frailty and transience of human life. The artist described these years as "a truly grotesque time, full to the brim with work, Nazi persecutions, bombs, hunger." In the choice of objects, the predominance of black, and the thick, rough paint, this still life captures the grim mood underlying such words.