About

Otto Dix's print cycle of 51 etchings in drypoint and aquatint. Der Krieg (War) 1924 ranks alongside Picasso's Guernica 1937 as one of the most powerful indictments of war created in the twentieth century. Dix (1891–1969) fought in World War One as a volunteer, serving as a machine gunner for the German army on the Western Front in 1915. He was at the Somme during the major allied offensive of 1916, and was wounded several times, once almost fatally. Many of the images in Der Krieg are based on Dix's diary sketches from this time.

Depicting scenes of savagery and devastation, Der Krieg is a timeless reminder of the misery and suffering caused by war. It reflects Dix's fascination with the potential extremities of human behaviour that war can induce, and his own horror at the 'ghastly, bottomless depths of life' that were revealed to him while he was a soldier.

'War: The Prints of Otto Dix' is a travelling exhibition from the National Gallery of Australia.