The artwork titled “Memory of the Halls of Mirrors in Brussels” was created by artist Otto Dix in 1920. This piece is painted with oil on canvas and is classified within the Expressionism movement, more specifically as a nude painting (nu). The artwork is part of the collection at the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris, France.
In the artwork, we see a stark portrayal of a scene that appears to be set within a bustling, decadent environment, likely referencing the aftermath of World War I. A central female figure is depicted nude, engaging with a grotesquely caricatured soldier wearing a Pickelhaube, a distinctly German military helmet. The soldier’s face is contorted, featuring a bulbous red nose and wide, almost manic eyes, which contrasts markedly with the soft features of the woman.
The surrounding space is busy and disorienting; it includes fragmented images of faces, glasses, and ill-defined figures that allude to a mirrored environment, creating a disconcerting and chaotic atmosphere. These mirrors reflect a variety of scenes and objects, such as wine glasses, suggesting a setting that could be a cabaret or a brothel. The use of angular lines, disjointed perspectives, and the bold color contrast between the reds and the more muted tones of the environment are characteristic of the Expressionist style, aiming to evoke emotional responses and to depict the inner turmoil or psychological state of the subjects.
Complex and possibly critical of the era’s morality and post-war societal norms, the painting harshly comments on the issues of the time, using the interplay of the human figures and their expressions as focal points around which the themes of pleasure, excess, and perhaps even violence circulate.
