Kollwitz was a Expressionist artist who worked as a painter, printmaker, and sculptor. Her work is significant for its portrayal of motherhood, and its call for justice for the poor and suffering. She was the first woman to be elected to the Prussian Academy. Her stark, uncensored portrayal of suffering led her art to be labeled as "degenerate" and she was eventually targeted by the Nazi party for removal from museums and a position as a professor of art.