Untermhaus, Thuringia, 1891-Singen, 1969

Dix began his artist training in the city which was the centre of German Expressionism when he won a scholarship to study at the School of Fine and Decorative Arts in Dresden. There he was influenced by the work of the German Expressionists and also studied the paintings of the German and Italian Renaissance artists whose work he could see in the city's museums. In 1914 he volunteered for service in World War I. The horrors of this experience would be evident in his work for many years and remained with him for ever. From 1919 to 1922 Dix studied at the Dresden Akademie der bildenden Künste and was one of the founders of the Dresdner Sezession Gruppe 1919, a radical group of Expressionist and Dada writers and artists. From 1922 to 1925 Dix lived in Düsseldorf where he married Marthe Koch and became associated with Johanna Ey's avant-garde gallery. His work was charged with a pronounced sense of social criticism. Dix revived the technique of tempera on panel used by Renaissance artists which contributed to the biting realism of his paintings. In 1925 he took part in the exhibition Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) held in Mannheim. At the end of that year Dix, encouraged by the gallery owner Karl Nierendorf, moved to Berlin where he enjoyed enormous success as a society portraitist. Berlin, a modern metropolis (immortalised by Alfred Döblin in Berlin Alexanderplatz of 1929) was at that time enjoying one of its most creative and innovative periods, although this was soon to decline with the advent of National Socialism. In 1927 Dix was made a professor at the Dresden Akademie der bildenden Künste and during this period produced some of his most ambitious works, such as the Metropolis triptych of 1927-1928, a caustic critique of bourgeois society. With the ascent of the Nazis to power, Dix lost his teaching position. His works were confiscated and included in the exhibition Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art). Al-

though he remained in Germany, Dix retired to Hemmenhofen, near Lake Constanz, where he painted landscapes and religious subjects in a style close to that of Altdorfer. In 1945 he was uprooted again and taken prisoner in Colmar by the French army. Following his release, Dix returned to Germany where he passed the rest of his life, dedicating himself entirely to painting.

Löffler, F.: Otto Dix, 1891-1969: Oeuvre der Gemälde. Recklinghausen, 1981.

Otto Dix et les maîtres anciens. Exhibition catalogue Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar.

Otto Dix, 1891-1969. Exhibition catalogue Galerie der Stadt, Stuttgart; Nationalgalerie, Berlin and Tate Gallery, London, 1991-1992.

Strobl, A.: "Otto Dix und Hugo Erfurth. Der Maler im Zeitalter der Photographie" in Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, Munich, 1993.

Vergo, P.: The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. Twentieth-century German Painting. London, 1992.


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