Why Did Birds Not of a Feather Flock Together? (32" x 40")
Docent Guide
The title of this colorful painting undoubtedly comes from an old German song whose lyrics read:
Birds of a feather flock together,
And so will pigs and swine;
Rats and mice
Will have their choice,
And so will I have mine.
This painting is reminiscent of The Bark of Dante or Dante and Virgil in Hell by Eugene Delacroix. That famous 19th century romantic painting was inspired by Dante's Inferno. In the painting, the red-robed Latin poet Virgil guides the Renaissance writer Dante through Hell as the demonic souls of immortal Florentines try to get into the boat as it crosses the River Styx. Hirschberger has placed three figures is a less pretentious scene. But all three are in a boat in a less stormy sea, but nevertheless on the way to Hell. On the left is a Priest. In the center a corporate or bureaucratic figure attired with a clown's hat. On the right, an ambiguous military figure with an 18th century Prussian style hat and red sunglasses. The central figure has his arms around the other two. The priest carries a religious-like object that is really a compass, as if they are trying to find their way.
The aesthetics of this painting are simple, colorful and disturbing. One is drawn back to the title, asking perhaps, why there was no resistance to the demonic forces that overtook Germany between 1933 and 1945. But the German song suggests that one has a choice, and that birds of feather need not flock together.