The artwork, titled “Totentanz anno 17 (Hohe Toter Mann),” was created by the artist Otto Dix in 1924 and belongs to the Expressionism movement. Classified as a battle painting, this piece is part of the series “The War (Der Krieg),” which Otto Dix completed in 1924.
In the artwork, Dix portrays a grim and chaotic battlefield scene. Littered with bodies, barbed wire, and wooden stakes, the composition illustrates the gruesome and destructive nature of war. The image is stark, rendered in deep blacks and grays, emphasizing the somber and horrific state of the battlefield. Human forms appear twisted and contorted, some impaled on stakes, reflecting the brutality of battle. The chaotic arrangement of elements accentuates the sense of disorder and devastation, capturing the nightmarish reality of war.
