The dramatic twentieth century as reflected in the works of Otto Dix and the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) painters

“Neue Sachlichkeit—I invented it.” This is the catchy way Otto Dix, looking back, rewrote the development of the art movement, which alongside abstract art and Expressionism can be considered the “third path” taken in the development of art in the modern era. The unrelenting realism of his work is at the heart of an attitude situated somewhere between the grotesque and the classical, to which some of the most important artists of the twentieth century subscribed.

This is the first publication to illuminate Neue Sachlichkeit against the backdrop of the Weimar Republic and National Socialism. Dix’s works—including the key Metropolis triptych (1928–29), the great psychological portraits, and, last but not least, the landscapes with their hidden symbolism, painted during the years he spent at Lake Constance—form the starting point for this exploration of his oeuvre. They are placed in a context with works of art by George Grosz, Rudolf Schlichter, and Christian Schad, creating a new perspective on this crucial chapter in German art history.