<P> The altarpiece's location in Alsace has meant that, in recent times, control of the work has alternated between Germany and France according to the fortunes of war . Following the Franco - Prussian war of 1870 - 71 and the passing of control to Germany, German writers developed the concept that the altarpiece somehow represented the essential character of the German nation . The work subsequently became an object of extraordinary scenes of veneration in Munich during its temporary relocation there during the First World War, and again when Alsace passed back into French hands at the end of the War . </P> <P> In the immediate postwar period the altarpiece, with its strong overtones of violent sensation and emotion, became a natural source of inspiration for many painters in the influential Expressionist school, such as George Grosz and Otto Dix . It also provided the basis for Paul Hindemith's modernist opera Mathis der Maler . In the later 1930s, it appears to have suffered a temporary decline in official esteem in Germany as a result of the National Socialists' branding of both Expressionism and of Hindemith's work as "degenerate". </P> <P> Due to renovation work in the former convent and until April 2015, the Isenheim Altarpiece was on view in the local Dominican Church, located about 200 metres from the Unterlinden Museum . This temporary transfer offered an exceptional and unprecedented opportunity to present, alongside Grünewald and Haguenau's monumental masterwork, all three painted works by the Colmar native Martin Schongauer held in Colmar: the Orlier Altarpiece (1470--1475), the Altarpiece of the Dominicans (c. 1480) and the Virgin of the Rose Bush (1473). The altarpiece depicting Saint Catherine and Saint Lawrence (c. 1510) and sculptures from the Late Middle Ages rounded out the presentation . </P> <Ul> <Li> <P> In situ </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Isenheim Altarpiece: The Resurrection </P> </Li> </Ul>

When the isenheim altarpiece was open who was the angel in green (center panel)