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Otto Dix served as a machine gunner and
an arial observer in the war many of Dix paintings depict war scenes from his
experienced point of view. At first he tried to rationalize war in his mind,
but later his paintings portrayed the atrocities and painful emotions of war.
In the piece "Der Krieg" (The War) he paints four
different panels depicting the devastation of war. On the left panel soldiers
are marching to a destination, perhaps to a battle the middle panel consists of
carnage, bodies with bullet holes, and dead foliage. There is an overwhelming
aura of emptiness in this panel. For the right panel Otto Dix has painted himself
as a supernatural figure rescuing another soldier from battle. The bottom panel
is soldiers lying in a bunker, either sleeping or dead. Dix felt this painting
represented the realities of war. |
