Otto Dix. From the ZF Cultural Foundation

True to his motto "Trust your eyes", Otto Dix (1891-1969) was an unsparing chronicler of his time and had a lasting influence on the New Objectivity movement and the art of the 20th century. People were at the centre of his interest, as his numerous portraits and self-portraits make clear.

Then as now, Dix's work is captivating in its often harrowing honesty. His depictions of the disturbing experiences at the front during the First World War or the dazzling city life of the Roaring Twenties were classified as "demoralising" and "immoral" by the National Socialists. Dix himself was considered a "degenerate artist" and retreated to Lake Constance to emigrate. In his late work, he particularly focussed on the technique of lithography, alternating between portraits of women, light-hearted children and animals, biblical subjects and the documentation of his own ageing.

The MMK Passau is showing around 85 works on paper and a painting by Otto Dix from the collection of the Kulturstiftung der ZF Passau GmbH. The exhibited works were created between 1917 and 1969 and provide exciting insights into Dix's diverse oeuvre, especially in rare proofs or condition prints. The main work in the Passau collection is undisputedly the painting Vanitas (1932) with its allegorical depiction of beauty and transience.

Last edited on 20.04.2026