Sancho Panza

Otto Möller was a member of the highly influential Novembergruppe, which was founded in the aftermath of the November uprising in 1918 as a forum for artists to take part in what was perceived as a sweeping revolutionary change in Wilhelmine Germany. The dawn of a new age in both politics and art was thought to be within reach, and to convey such revolutionary thought, avant garde art was deemed to be the ideal vehicle. As the Aufruf der Novembergruppe proclaimed: "The future of art and the seriuosness of the present hour forces us, the revolutionaries of the spirit (Expressionists, Cubists, Futurists), to unite and join forces. We therefore urgently call upon all those artist who have broken the traditional mold to declare their adherence to the Novembergruppe." (op. cit., p. 48).
In choosing Don Miguel de Cervante's character as the subject of his painting, Möller was undoubtedly drawing parallels between the criticism inherent in the adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza towards the 17th century Bourbon rule of Spain and the situation presenting itself to Weimar Germany. Sancho Panza, ever the earth-bound, pragmatic element of the duo, can be seen as the representative of the masses, who, hand in hand with the revolutionary idealism of Don Quixote can attain the Utopian dawn of a new age.