The colourful painting shows a group of large birds, among them a black and gold one and a many-breasted woman next to it who is emerging from an egg. The bound naked man whose back one of the birds is cutting into, the extended saluting arm of the woman which seems to be answered with the same gesture by a group of people in the background, the abhorrent appearance of the black and gold one bird and the altogether terrifying goings-on present a barely-disguised look at the Nazis and their victims, to which the “degenerate” artist Max Beckmann belonged.

Beckmann titled a sketch of the painting Land d. Wahnsinnigen [Land of Madmen] and dated it “12 Aug. 37” – a title that implies a political meaning. 

The contrast of hellish place and the tortured is the contrast between the masses and the individual, instinct and intellect, imprisonment and freedom. The inhabitants of hell are subject to the course of time (at right there is a newspaper!); but the space belongs to the free individual. The colourfulness of the painting, this diabolical feast, suggests the appeal of a life among the masses. But therein lies the suffering of those who have chosen another life. Again we are reminded of Beckmann's words on his first triptych: “Departure, yes departure from the illusion of life toward the essential things that wait behind appearance.” He continues: “Ultimately this applies to all of my paintings.” (ed. trans.)

The painting cannot be explained from a political perspective, however much it may have been inspired by the conditions in Germany. Nevertheless, Hölle der Vögel and Abfahrt [Departure] can “be applied to all times” in Beckmann's conception.

Further reading:
Lenz, Christian: Schön und schrecklich wie das Leben. Die Kunst Max Beckmanns 1937 bis 1945. In: Max Beckmann. Exil in Amsterdam. Ausstellungskatalog. Amsterdam / München: Hatje Canz 2007/2008, S. 33-107