While numerous artists after World War II turned to an abstract vocabulary, others stayed with figuration, creating radical counter-images to war-propaganda depictions of strongmen, invincible soldiers and triumphant figures. This dichotomy runs through the collection.

With existential angst, humour and self-deprecation, the works illuminated and punctured a number of cultural clichés about gender that used to be prominent and still figure in pop culture, as well as in political and military ideals.

Many of the works on show here were self-portraits that seem to question the concept of the confident male artistic genius. The theme brought together works by among others Warhol, Antony Gormley, Ulay, Georg Baselitz, Ugo Rondinone and Francis Bacon.