# The Letter

- By: Karl Hofer (German, 1878–1955)
- Date: 1934
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Unframed: 90.7 x 70 cm (35 11/16 x 27 9/16 in.)
- Culture: Germany, 20th century
- Credit line: Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1939.750)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/cma/1939.750/1939.750_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Hofer's art is filled with disillusionment and pessimism, expressing his dark vision of modern life through a limited range of themes that the artist repeated obsessively. Born in Karlsruhe, Hofer settled in Berlin in 1913. Condemned by the Nazis as a "degenerate artist," in 1933 he was dismissed from his teaching post. In 1943 Hofer's studio and most of his work were destroyed by bombing.