Otto Dix
German painter and printmaker of the Neue Sachlichkeit, known for unflinching depictions of war and Weimar society.
Otto Dix was a German painter and printmaker born on 2 December 1891 in Untermhaus, now part of Gera, Thuringia. His father worked in an iron foundry, and his mother, a seamstress, had written poetry in her youth. Dix’s early exposure to art came from his cousin Fritz Amann, a painter whose studio he often visited, and from a primary school teacher who encouraged him. From 1906 to 1910, he apprenticed with painter Carl Senff and began painting landscapes. In 1910, he entered the Kunstgewerbeschule in Dresden (now the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts), which focused on applied arts and crafts; Richard Guhr was among his teachers. His early work centered on landscapes and portraits in a stylized realism that later shifted toward expressionism.
When World War I broke out, Dix volunteered for the German Army and joined a field artillery regiment in Dresden. By autumn 1915, he was a non-commissioned officer in a machine-gun unit on the Western front, fighting in the Battle of the Somme. In November 1917, his unit moved to the Eastern front until the end of hostilities with Russia, then to Flanders in February 1918. He fought in the German spring offensive, earned the Iron Cross (2nd class), and reached the rank of Vizefeldwebel. In August 1918, he was wounded in the neck and later took pilot training. After an anti-aircraft course in Tongern, he was promoted and transferred to an aviation unit in Posen. He was discharged on 22 December 1918. The war left a deep mark on Dix; he had recurring nightmares of crawling through destroyed houses. His traumatic experiences appeared in works like the 1924 portfolio of fifty etchings *Der Krieg* and the later *The War Triptych* (1929–1932).
After the war, Dix returned to Gera in late 1918, then moved to Dresden in 1919 to study at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste. That year, he co-founded the Dresden Secession group, and his work went through an expressionist phase. In 1920, he met George Grosz and, influenced by Dada, began adding collage elements to his pieces, some shown at the first Dada Fair in Berlin. His collage *The Match Seller* (1920) reflects this period. He also exhibited at the German Expressionists show in Darmstadt that year. In 1921, he met metalsmith Martha Koch; they married in 1923 and had three children. She often sat for his portraits. By 1924, he had joined the Berlin Secession and was developing a realistic style using thin oil glazes over tempera, like old masters. His 1923 painting *The Trench*, showing dismembered soldiers, caused such outrage that the Wallraf-Richartz Museum hid it behind a curtain; in 1925, Cologne’s mayor Konrad Adenauer canceled its purchase and forced the museum director to resign.
Dix contributed to the 1925 Neue Sachlichkeit exhibition in Mannheim alongside Grosz, Max Beckmann, and others. His work, like Grosz’s, sharply criticized German society, often focusing on Lustmord (sexualized murder), prostitution, violence, old age, and death. In a rare 1927 statement, he said, “The object is primary and the form is shaped by the object.” Among his famous paintings are *Sailor and Girl* (1925), the triptych *Metropolis* (1928)—a scornful look at Weimar decadence—and *Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden* (1926). His images of legless and disfigured veterans highlighted their forgotten status in society, a theme also seen in Erich Maria Remarque’s *All Quiet on the Western Front*. Dix also worked in silverpoint on prepared paper, creating self-portraits and portraits like *Old Woman* (1932), exhibited with old-master drawings.
Long before the Nazis took power in January 1933, the German Art Society had labeled Dix one of Germany’s most “degenerate” artists. When *Metropolis* first appeared in Dresden in 1928, Bettina Feistel-Rohmeder, a founding member of that society, publicly attacked it.
- born
- 2 December 1891
- died
- 25 July 1969
- field
- Painter and printmaker
- nationality
- German
- known_for
- Ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of German society during the Weimar Republic and the brutality of war
Lore & Background
Otto Dix was born in Untermhaus, Germany, now a part of the city of Gera, Thuringia. The eldest son of Franz Dix, an iron foundry worker, and Louise, a seamstress who had written poetry in her youth, he was exposed to art from an early age. The hours he spent in the studio of his cousin, Fritz Amann, who was a painter, were decisive in forming young Otto's ambition to be an artist; he received additional encouragement from his primary school teacher. Between 1906 and 1910, he served an apprenticeship with painter Carl Senff, and began painting his first landscapes. In 1910, he entered the Kunstgewerbeschule in Dresden, now the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, where Richard Guhr was among his teachers. At that time the school was not a school for the fine arts but rather an academy that concentrated on applied arts and crafts. The majority of Dix's early works concentrated on landscapes and portraits which were done in a stylized realism that later shifted to expressionism. When the First World War erupted, Dix volunteered for the German Army. He was assigned to a field artillery regiment in Dresden. In the autumn of 1915 he was assigned as a non-commissioned officer of a machine-gun unit on the Western front and took part in the Battle of the Somme. In November 1917, his unit was transferred to the Eastern front until the end of hostilities with Russia, and in February 1918 he was stationed in Flanders. Back on the western front, he fought in the German spring offensive. He earned the Iron Cross, 2nd class, and reached the rank of Vizefeldwebel. In August of that year he was wounded in the neck, and shortly after he took pilot training lessons. He took part in an anti-aircraft course in Tongern, was promoted to Vizefeldwebel and after passing the medical tests transferred to Aviation Replacement Unit Schneidemühl in Posen. He was discharged from service on 22 December 1918 and was home for Christmas. Dix was profoundly affected by the sights of the war, and later described a recurring nightmare in which he crawled through destroyed houses. He represented his traumatic experiences in many subsequent works, including a portfolio of fifty etchings called Der Krieg, published in 1924. Subsequently, he referred to the war again in The War Triptych, painted from 1929 to 1932. At the end of 1918 Dix returned to Gera, but the next year he moved to Dresden, where he stu
Reader's Guide
Otto Dix’s work is defined by its unflinching, harshly realistic portrayal of German society during the Weimar Republic and the brutal realities of war, a style that places him as a central figure of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement alongside George Grosz and Max Beckmann. His experiences as a volunteer in World War I, where he served in a machine-gun unit on the Western front and participated in the Battle of the Somme, profoundly shaped his artistic vision; he later described a recurring nightmare of crawling through destroyed houses. This trauma is directly expressed in a portfolio of fifty etchings titled *Der Krieg* and in a later triptych, *The War*. Dix’s post-war work became extremely critical of contemporary life, unsparingly depicting prostitution, violence, old age, death, and the disfigured veterans common on Berlin’s streets. He often dwelled on the theme of sexualized murder, known as Lustmord. His 1923 painting *The Trench*, showing dismembered soldiers, caused such controversy that a museum director was forced to resign after its purchase was canceled. Dix’s method evolved from an early expressionist phase and Dada-influenced collage work into a realistic style using thin glazes of oil over tempera, emulating old masters. He stated that the object is primary and form is shaped by the object. His significance lies in his role as a chronicler of the Weimar Republic’s decadence and the forgotten cost of war, a legacy that saw his work condemned as degenerate by the Nazis.
Did You Know?
- Dix volunteered for the German Army in World War I and was wounded in the neck in 1918.
- He became a founder of the Dresden Secession group in 1919.
- His painting The Trench was exhibited in the 1937 Entartete Kunst exhibition, though its later whereabouts are unknown.
- Dix was arrested in 1939 on a trumped-up charge of involvement in a plot against Hitler but was later released.
- He was awarded the Grand Merit Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1959.
Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)
"War too, must be seen as a natural occurrence." — Otto Dix "Lice, rats, barbed wire, fleas, shells, bombs, caves, corpses, blood, liquor, mice, cats, gas, artillery, filth, bullets, mortars, fire, steel: that is what war is! It is all the work of the Devil!" — Otto Dix "If I can't be famous, I want at least to be infamous." — Otto Dix "[..it had been fun] to be able to draw in the midst of boredom and misery.." — Otto Dix
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