An Afternoon in Berlin portrays the interior of an à la mode bourgeois house decorated with avant-garde works on the walls and even an African idol. These elements contrast with the conventionality of the furniture and the way the characters being depicted are dressed.

While one couple is dancing to the sound of the radio receiver, the other contemplates their advances from the sofa; the man’s erotically solicitous face, the insinuating transparency of the woman’s dress, her back dominated by the man’s hand. Grosz depicts them as ridiculous caricaturesque creatures, particularly the man who seems to be the host whose cigar is a symbol of his sexual inhibition and whose feet do not reach the ground.

The busy decoration and the composition made up of inclined planes produce a sense of unease that goes beyond the deformation of the figures and the work’s deliberate comicality. In this way Grosz transcends simple caricature in order to create a timeless work of art.