Otto Dix was a German painter and printmaker that was known for his brutal and honest depictions of the horrors of war and German society during the early 1900s. His work had themes of violence, horror, and bleakness. But of course, he didn’t start out that way. Dix began painting at a young age, being taught by his cousin who was also a painter. He spent much of his childhood learning how to paint with his cousin, and it is what inspired him to want to do art as a career. Although, once World War I erupted, Dix eagerly joined the German army and began to serve. He sustained both mental and physical damage, including a wound to the neck, and he would have constant recurring nightmares of himself crawling through the houses that had been destroyed by war. So yeah, talk about disturbed.
The Trench,
After the war, he moved back to Dresden and became associated with the German Expressionists of this time. He experimented with his paintings and was inspired by his fellow expressionist and dadaist artists. His painting, The Trench, was displayed at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, but was later covered by a curtain due to it’s graphic content of dismembered and dying German Soldiers. Many of his paintings unashamedly portrayed the horrific acts of German soldiers and his critical view of German society.
Pragerstrasse, 1920
After the Nazis gained power near the beginning of WWII, he was declared a Degenerate Artist and removed from his position as an instructor at the Dresden Academy. As well, Dix was even (falsely) charged and arrested for allegedly being involve in a plot against Hitler. I actually find it amazing how he managed to survive all of this, having made so many enemies…. In the end, Dix was well recognized for his honest paintings, and awarded for them. I greatly admire his bravery and defiance; I couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to be an anti-war, or “degenerate”, artist at that time.
War, 1932
Sources:
https://www.wikiart.org/en/otto-dix/all-works
https://www.ottodix.org/
Logan 