In order to get a feel for paintings of WWI i decided to search and browse random paintings of that time. I noticed a lot of artwork from Otto Dix, but I was drawn to this painting. At first glance, it jumps out as a violent and graphic image. Though it is simpler in terms of detail, I thought it resembled the horrors of the war the best through its color. In general, red resembles things like death and evil which is fitting for this situation since there is obviously death in a war. Most people would argue that war is definitely an evil thing since we become barbaric creatures by killing and fighting. Also, wrath is one of the seven deadly sins. Next I thought about the greens and yellows and how those tend to resemble nature and calmness. It adds a contrast to the red while also possibly explaining a little bit about the artist. Dix chose to use these colors on the the images of the people who seem to be in horror or dying. Though one may think that that should be painted red, I choose to see it as a new beginning for those dying people. While the reds are flaring in the background, they are green and yellow showing the decay of their bodies into nature as well as their souls heading toward a more peaceful realm- possibly heaven. Since the people were drawn in white, one can assume that they were just innocent citizens. White often resembles purity innocence and blankness. These people have done nothing wrong and are just victims in this situation. Now with this war, they become blank/ nothing. Last, I thought of how this painting was done in a chaotic manor which can tell a couple things. First it shows the intensity of the violence of war. Next, it shows the carelessness of fighting through the carelessness of order in the painting. Last, it displays violence in the way the painting seems to be just thrown into one and chaotically put together.(http://www.art-ww1.com/gb/texte/091text.html)
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