THE TRENCH OTTO DIX

When: 1937 What: Painting Where: Germany

We could dedicate an entire feature to the art and books that were banned under the Nazi regime in Germany, but we wanted to focus in on this particular example. Otto Dix was conscripted to the German army in 1915 when he was an art student in Dresden. After the war he created a number of anti-war works inspired by his experiences.

The Trench was one of his most striking paintings, standing over two metres high, depicting the chaos and carnage of war in the trenches in a visceral and dramatic way. It was immediately controversial and when the Dresden City Museum bought the painting in 1928 they didn’t actually exhibit it. It would then be confiscated by the Nazis and used in their degenerate art exhibition in 1937 as an example of morally bankrupt and unpatriotic art.

The fate of The Trench after this is unknown. Many modernist works of art were burned by the Nazis in 1939 and it was believed The Trench may have been among them. A bill of sale exists for the painting, however, and it may have survived until at least 1940, but is now considered lost.