BACK TO EXPRESSIONISTS

The Seven Deadly Sins
Otto Dix
Oil/Egg Tempera on Wood

This allegorical painting representing the political situation in Germany at the time, was created immediately after the Nazis had Dix removed from his teaching position at the Dresden Art Academy.

The figures are Avarice (an old, bent over hag clutching at money), Envy (who rides the back of Avarice), Sloth (the figure in the skeleton costume who holds the scythe, and whose legs and arms form a rough swastika), Lust (who dances in a lascivious way behind Death, Anger (the horned demon behind death), Pride (the enormous head behind the scythe, whose ears are plugged and who has an anus for a mouth), and Gluttony (represented by the figure in the uppermost right corner who wears a cooking pot on his head).

The figure of Envy, who rides the back of Avarice, wears a mask of Adolf Hitler. As a matter of precaution, Dix did not paint in the Hitler mustache until after the war. The figure of Sloth is prominently featured because the artist blamed the German people's lack of alarm and concern as a primary reason for the Nazis rise to power. This oil and tempera painting done on wood shows Dix to have been one of Germany's greatest painters.