The Artist’s Family, Otto Dix
Otto Dix
The Artist’s Family
de
Back to top

Otto Dix

The Artist’s Family, 1927


Dimensions
80 x 50 cm
Physical Description
Oil on panel
Inventory Number
2065
Acquisition
Acquired in 1959, property of Städelscher Museums-Verein e.V.
Status
On display, 1st upper level, Modern Art, room 14

Texts

About the Work

After his son Ursus’ birth in spring 1927, Otto Dix began a series of portraits of children and families. This one here shows the infant in his mother Martha’s arms as well as the daughter Nelly and the artist himself. Dix carefully prepared the composition with several studies, to then transfer them to the wooden panel, which, combined with the delicate glaze painting, bears witness to his intense study of the Old Masters. This also explains the motif’s similarity to medieval depictions of the Holy Family as well as the artist’s grotesque expression. Dix refers here to the shepherds (who were often depicted with a rather crude physiognomy) adoring the Child.

About the Acquisition

During the Third Reich, the museum's collection of modernist art was almost entirely lost by the confiscation in 1937 of what the National Socialists had labelled "degenerate art". The first decades after the Second World War were therefore devoted to rebuilding the department. Given the conditions in the post-war years, the city of Frankfurt was in no position to make funds for the purchase of art available in any significant way, and so the revived Museums-Verein focused intensively on this area of collection. In 1959, for example, the association planned to acquire two works for the collection: August Macke's 'Little Walter's Toys' and Otto Dix's 'The Artist's Family'. The asking price for each of the paintings was about 12,000 marks, but the city only had funds to purchase the painting by Macke. The Museums-Verein took over the costs of purchasing Dix's family portrait, so that today the two pictures hang side by side in the gallery.

Audio & Video

  • Basic information
    01:37
  • Focus on material
    01:31
Kunst|Stück – Otto Dix: Die Familie des Künstlers
Sammlungshighlights des Städel Museums in unterhaltsamen und informativen Filmen – das sind die Kunst|Stücke. Entdecken Sie spannende Details zu Kunstwerken aus ungewöhnlichen Blickwinkeln in unter zwei Minuten. Otto Dix: Die Familie des Künstlers (1927), Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main. https://sammlung.staedelmuseum.de/de/werk/die-familie-des-kuenstlers#yt

Work Data

Work Content

Similar works

  • All

More to discover

Albums

Contact

Do you have any suggestions, questions or information about this work?

Last update

10.09.2024