Otto Dix

German artist Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix is best known for paintings and prints filled with anguished, exploited human figures representing the turmoil of his time. He lived during the most tumultuous period of modern German history, from World War I through World War II and the division of Germany after its defeat. This fed his deep-rooted interest in dark social contexts and the human types that emerge from them. As he remarked, “You have to see man in an unbridled state in order to know something about him.” 1
A committed and sought-after portraitist at a time when photography had largely replaced painted portraits, Dix depicted fellow artists and other members of Germany’s cultural bohemia, as well as various professionals and patrons of the arts. His portraits include Dr. Mayer-Hermann, in which he pictured a renowned throat specialist in a manner that seems to run counter to the conventional portrayal of doctors as healers. With its frontality, large scale, sparse setting, and array of frightening, circular instruments—the shapes of which echo the doctor's own round body and face—the artist creates a seemingly satirical effect.
Much of Dix’s work associated with German Expressionism was informed by his four years of frontline service in World War I as an artillery gunner. He witnessed casualties, destruction, and senseless violence, and translated these experiences into visual expressions of despondency in his paintings and prints. Made 10 years after the conflict began, The War (Der Krieg), a cycle of 50 etchings, aquatints, and drypoints, unflinchingly shows the horrors of trench warfare and the aftermath of battle, featuring dead, dying, and shell-shocked soldiers, bombed-out landscapes, and graves.
In his figurative work after World War I, Dix veered toward social satire, developing a grotesque, exaggerated aesthetic associated with the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement, whose artists sought to unsentimentally portray the social and political realities of the Weimar Republic. In Die Skatspieler (Skat Players), he depicts three World War I veterans with grossly distorted features, emphasizing their war-damaged bodies by foregrounding their amputated and prosthetic limbs and their deformed faces, framed by newspapers and playing cards. These disfigured veterans appear as composites of human flesh and artificial body parts, showing the devastating toll of war. In addition to wounded veterans, Dix also focused on gaudily dressed ladies of the night, stating, “I had the feeling that there was a dimension of reality that had not been dealt with in art: the dimension of ugliness.” 2
Introduction by Heidi Hirschl Orley, Curatorial Expansion Project Manager, 2018
- Introduction
- Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix (German: [ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈhaɪnʁiç ˈʔɔto ˈdɪks]; 2 December 1891 – 25 July 1969) was a German painter and printmaker, noted for his ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of German society during the Weimar Republic and the brutality of war. Along with George Grosz and Max Beckmann, he is widely considered one of the most important artists of the Neue Sachlichkeit.
- Wikidata
- Q153104
- Introduction
- Known for his scenes of war from during and after serving as a machine-gunner during World War I. His work became controversial and heavily politicized from the 1920s. He is also known for his nudes and for his portraits of Germany's literary and theatrical bohemia and its patrons. Dix was a founder-member of the Dresdner Sezession Gruppe 1919, a group of radical Expressionist and Dada artists and writers. His later work includes landscapes and paintings of biblical themes. Dix was unusual in his ability to negotiate between the regimes of West and East Germany, making yearly trips to Dresden, appointed to the academies of both West and East Berlin, and the recipient of major awards in both the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.
- Nationality
- German
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Landscapist, Portraitist, Painter, Sculptor
- Names
- Otto Dix, Dix, o. dix
- Ulan
- 500028047
Exhibitions
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Otto Dix The Nun 1914
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Otto Dix A Riddled Wall (Zerschossene Mauern) (1916)
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Otto Dix A Soldier Writing (Schreibender Soldat) 1916
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Otto Dix War Cripples (Kriegskrüppel) 1920
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Otto Dix The Celebrities (Constellation) [Die Prominenten (Konstellation)] from the portfolio Nine Woodcuts (Neun Holzschnitte) 1920 (published 1922)
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Otto Dix Lovers (Liebespaar) from the portfolio Nine Woodcuts (Neun Holzschnitte) (1920), dated 1921, published 1922
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Otto Dix Beautiful Mally (Die schöne Mally) 1920
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Otto Dix Portrait of Violinist Carlo von Rust (Bildnis des Geigers Carlo von Rust) (1920)
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Otto Dix Syphilitic (Syphilitiker) 1920
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Otto Dix Street (Strasse) 1920
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Otto Dix Café Couple (Paar im Café) 1921
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Otto Dix Streetcar (Elektrische) from the portfolio Nine Woodcuts (Neun Holzschnitte) (1920, dated 1921, published 1922)
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Otto Dix Street Noise (Lärm der Strasse) from the portfolio Nine Woodcuts (Neun Holzschnitte) (1920, dated 1921, published 1922)
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Otto Dix American Riding Act (Amerikanischer Reitakt) from the portfolio Circus (Zirkus) 1922
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Otto Dix Street (Strasse) from the portfolio Nine Woodcuts (Neun Holzschnitte) 1919 (published 1922)
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Otto Dix Apotheosis (Apotheose) from the portfolio Nine Woodcuts (Neun Holzschnitte) 1919 (published 1922)
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Otto Dix Scherzo from the portfolio Nine Woodcuts (Neun Holzschnitte) 1920 (published 1922)
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Otto Dix Cats (Katzen) from the portfolio Nine Woodcuts (Neun Holzschnitte) 1920 (published 1922)
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Otto Dix Man and Woman (Nocturnal Scene) [Mann und Weib (Nächtliche Szene)] from the portfolio Nine Woodcuts (Neun Holzschnitte) (1919, dated 1920, published 1922)
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Otto Dix _Self-Portrait (with Cigarette) [Selbstbildnis (mit Zigarette)] _ from the portfolio 6 Etchings (6 Radierungen) 1922
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Otto Dix At the Café (Im Café) 1922
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Otto Dix J. B. Neumann 1922
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Otto Dix Self-Portrait (Selbstporträt) 1922
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Otto Dix Maud Arizona (Suleika, The Tattooed Wonder) [Maud Arizona (Suleika, das tätowierte Wunder)] from the portfolio Circus (Zirkus) 1922
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Otto Dix Mediterranean Sailor (Südlicher Matrose) 1923
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Otto Dix Mrs. Otto Mueller (Frau Otto Mueller) 1923
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Otto Dix Woman with Heron Feather (Dame mit Reiher) from the portfolio Die Schaffenden, vol. 5, no. 1 1923
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Otto Dix Portrait of Otto Klemperer (Bildnis Otto Klemperer) 1923
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Otto Dix Paul Westheim 1923
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Otto Dix Passer-By (Schreitende) (1923)
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Otto Dix Nocturnal Apparition (Nächtliche Erscheinung) 1923
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Otto Dix Procuress (Kupplerin) 1923
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Otto Dix Leonie 1923
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Otto Dix Sailor and Girl (Matrose und Mädchen) 1923
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Otto Dix The War (Der Krieg) 1924
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Otto Dix Soldiers' Grave Between the Lines (Soldatengrab zwischen den Linien) from The War (Der Krieg) 1924
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Otto Dix Buried Alive (January 1916, Champagne) (Verschüttete [Januar 1916, Champagne]) from The War (Der Krieg) 1924
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Otto Dix Gas Victims (Templeux-La-Fosse, August 1916) (Gastote [Templeux-La-Fosse, August 1916]) from The War (Der Krieg) 1924
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Otto Dix Crater Field near Dontrien, Lit by Flares (Trichterfeld bei Dontrien, von Leuchtkugeln erhellt) from The War (Der Krieg) 1924
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Otto Dix Horse Cadaver (Pferdekadaver) from The War (Der Krieg) 1924
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Otto Dix Wounded Man (Autumn 1916, Bapaume) (Verwundeter [Herbst 1916, Bapaume]) from The War (Der Krieg) 1924
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Otto Dix Near Langemarck (February 1918) (Bei Langemarck [Februar 1918]) from The War (Der Krieg) 1924
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Otto Dix Relay Post (Autumn Battle in Champagne) (Relaisposten [Herbstschlacht in der Champagne]) from The War (Der Krieg) 1924
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Otto Dix Disintegrating Trench (Zerfallender Kampfgraben) from The War (Der Krieg) 1924
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Otto Dix Wounded Man Fleeing (Battle of the Somme, 1916) (Fliehender Verwundeter [Sommeschlacht 1916]) from The War (Der Krieg) 1924
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Otto Dix Abandoned Position near Neuville (Verlassene Stellung bei Neuville) from The War (Der Krieg) 1924
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Otto Dix Shock Troops Advance under Gas (Sturmtruppe geht unter Gas vor) from The War (Der Krieg) 1924
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Otto Dix Mealtime in the Trench (Loretto Heights) (Mahlzeit in der Sappe [Lorettohöhe]) from The War (Der Krieg) 1924
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