Even seen from a purely artistic and artificial perspective, the theme of shadows can be as fascinating as the most compelling mystery novel and even, at times, as dramatic as life itself.

This portrait of Doctor Haustein, made in 1928 by the German painter Christian Schad, has all the mystery of great dramas, which nevertheless revolves around the mysterious shadow that is seen just behind him.

Shadow, which according to art historians, would have belonged to the doctor's mistress, present in the making of the painting and whose knowledge led his wife to suicide: the same fate that the unfaithful doctor followed some years later, in 1933 , when he decided to take his own life voluntarily, not because of the remorse that the fatal outcome of his spouse could have supposed, but to avoid falling alive into the hands of the fearsome Gestapo.

NOTICE: Both the text and the photographs are my exclusive intellectual property and therefore are subject to my Copyright. Regarding the latter, add that the painting referred to belongs to the Permanent Collection of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, with whose authorization they were taken and at no time was any condition imposed for their use.