Gabinet doktora Gotarda. Schulz i niemiecki ekspresjonizm

The plot of the “Sanatorium under the Sign of an Hourglass” resembles that of the most famous film of the German expressionism – The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1920) by Robert Wiene. In fact, similarities go beyond the plot and can be discovered also in the expressionist manner of creating the presented world and characters, the mysterious atmosphere, and many important details discussed in the essay. Is it likely that Bruno Schulz saw the film about the demonic hypnotist and his medium, which inspired him to write the story about doctor Gotard’s sanatorium?