otto dix

Otto Dix mit Pinsel (Otto Dix with Brush)

Hugo Erfurth, 1929

"All art is exorcism. I paint dreams and visions too; the dreams and visions of my time. Painting is the effort to produce order; order in yourself. There is much chaos in me, much chaos in our time."

5 posts - from Self-portrait with my son to Dr. Mayer-Hermann

This section has three focuses, on the development of Dix's self-portraits, his tributes to the old masters, and his work before the war.

Sunrise by Dix was painted a year before he was to volunteer for the war. Very obviously inspired by Van Gogh (who had an exhibition in Dresden in 1912), the Sun bursts in the middle of the canvas over the snowy fields. Dix's pre-war works deal with many of the similar topics he covers in his works during and after the war, such as religion, prostitution, and mythology (Winter). Although depicted in a mostly less than political light, his subjects before the war would influence his artistic interests and experiences after the war.

The development of Dix's self-portraits is worth a discussion. A sharp contrast is drawn between his stern-faced yet innocent 1912 Self-Portrait, and his abstract and shocking Self-portrait as Mars. In depicting himself as Mars, the Roman god of war, Dix acknowledges his place in the new forms of warfare, dehumanizing himself in the same way his country's opponents are dehumanized. In 1930, Dix then painted his Self-portrait with my son. This reads as an attempt to not only celebrate his family, but also is an event that rehumanizes himself, raising his son up on his arm in order to show him to the world, but also to show the world to his son.

4 posts - from Metropolis to Match Seller

Another topic of Dix's interest were veterans affairs. After the Great War, veterans in Germany (and other countries) were often offered little to no help of any kind. Often, their injuries and disfigurements were seen as unwanted reminders of the war. All of the works in part two feature injured and disfigured veterans.

The Match Seller focuses on the financial aspects of veterans, showing a man who is limbless and blind selling matches on a street. The other figures in the painting appear to be running away from him, in fear of either his appearance or the memories that may arrive when seeing him. Even the dog has his say, pissing on the veteran as if to represent Germany as a whole after the war.

5 Posts - from Dresden War Triptych, to Shock Troops Advance Under Gas

Alex Winter puts Otto Dix into the camp of apocalyptic and allegorical war art, using the apocalypse to show the inhumanity of war as the end of civilization. Dix's series der Krieg exemplifies this inhumanity and has, in my opinion, the most apocalyptic examples of his work.

Dix's frequent use of skulls and skeletons (as in Skull and Dead Sentry) show death in its bleakest forms. The imagery in Dead Sentry shows the viewer the level of despair that soldiers succumbed to, a hopelessness so strong that a soldier was forced to kill himself with his own gun. With both skeletons covered by worms, Dix shows the life that springs from death. He shows this without any romanticization or hope that the life it brings will be fruitful.

Some of his other works in this series stress the suffering that soldiers went through while in battle, such as Wounded Man and Transporting the Wounded. In his other works (seen in part 2) he emphasizes the results of these injuries. Transporting the Wounded is particularly interesting, since it shows an injured man who looks half-dead. Mouth open, eyes rolled up, and completely static, it could be possible that this man won't live another hour.

Self-portrait with my Son

Sunrise

Self-portrait as Mars

Self-Portrait

Dr. Mayer-Hermann

Großstadt (Metropolis)

Otto Dix, 1920

Kriegskrüppel (War Cripples)

Die Skatspieler (The Skat Players)

Streichholzhändler (Match Seller)

Der Krieg (the War), aka Dresden War Triptych

Otto Dix, 1932

Verwundetentransport im Houthulster Wald (Transporting the Wounded in Houthulster Forest)

Toter Sappenposten (Dead Sentry)

Verwundeter (Herbst 1916) (Wounded Man [Autumn 1916])