# Otto Dix artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/otto-dix/
Profile generated: 2026-08-18T18:12:42.526Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1891-12-02
- Death date: 1969-07-25
- Nationality: German
- Movements: Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), German Expressionism
- Common media: Painting, Printmaking, Etching, Portraiture, Landscape painting

## Portrait

![Otto Dix](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Otto_Dix_by_Hugo_Erfurth%2C_c._1929.jpg/1280px-Otto_Dix_by_Hugo_Erfurth%2C_c._1929.jpg)
Hugo Erfurth · Public domain
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Otto_Dix_by_Hugo_Erfurth,_c._1929.jpg

## About Otto Dix

Otto Dix (1891–1969) was a German painter and printmaker closely associated with Neue Sachlichkeit, or New Objectivity, and also with German Expressionism. His four years of frontline service during World War I became a crucial source for uncompromising images of combat, injury, social dislocation, and psychological strain. During the 1920s, Dix examined Weimar-era society through portraits and sharply observed scenes involving cultural figures, professionals, veterans, and people living at society's margins. His 1924 portfolio The War (Der Krieg), comprising fifty etchings, is central to his printmaking legacy. Dix was also a sought-after portraitist, capable of combining close physical observation with satire and psychological intensity. After the Nazi regime removed him from his Dresden academic position in 1933, his output included more traditional landscapes near Lake Constance; his later work also engaged religious themes. Collectors consequently encounter a varied body of paintings, portraits, drawings, prints, editions, and later landscapes.

## Common works and media

Auction and appraisal contexts commonly include paintings, portraits, drawings and other works on paper, individual prints, and editioned portfolios. Etchings related to The War (Der Krieg) are especially recognizable, while other works may depict World War I, wounded veterans, Weimar society, cultural personalities, professionals, prostitution, or other socially marginalized figures. Collectors may also encounter traditional landscapes from the Lake Constance period and more loosely handled postwar works with religious or mystical subjects. Prints should be identified by exact composition, technique, edition details, inscriptions, paper, and any relationship to a larger portfolio.

## Market and appraisal context

Otto Dix has a substantial public auction history, but results should be compared within closely matched groups rather than treated as one uniform market. Medium, dimensions, date, subject, condition, restoration, provenance, exhibition history, catalogue references, signatures, inscriptions, and attribution confidence may all affect an appraisal. Prints require particular attention to the specific image, edition or portfolio relationship, impression quality, paper condition, and completeness. A painting or distinctive 1920s work should not be compared mechanically with a later landscape or an editioned print. Reported realized prices may also differ in whether buyer premiums and fees are included. Public records provide useful comparable evidence, but private transactions, incomplete feeds, attribution changes, and condition findings can limit direct comparisons.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine sourced artist-identity research with matched public auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. Public records are reviewed as evidence for comparison, not as a substitute for authentication, condition assessment, or a work-specific appraisal.

## Sources

- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/1559
- Art UK: https://artuk.org/discover/artists/dix-otto-18911969
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q153104
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/46769170/
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500028047
- IdRef: https://www.idref.fr/027361217
- British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG25351
- National Gallery of Art: https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.3935.html
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/otto-dix/