The Pregnant Woman

Artist Otto Dix (German, 1891–1969)

Date1931

Mediumegg-tempera, mastic varnish, stand oil, and oil paint on linen, mounted on plywood

Dimensionscanvas: 82.9 × 61.9 cm (32 5/8 × 24 3/8 in.)
framed: 99.7 × 80.6 × 5.7 cm (39 1/4 × 31 3/4 × 2 1/4 in.)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Terms

Object number2016.11

DescriptionA seated, heavily pregnant woman whose pendulous breasts rest on her upper abdomen looks toward her right shoulder, away from the viewer. Her cropped, dark brown, chin-length hair hides her face. Her genitalia are covered by a blanket.
Label TextAfter serving in the German army in WWI, Dix returned to Berlin traumatized by his war experiences. He used art to present cynical social criticism, applying a hyper-realistic aesthetic to the documentation of post-war turmoil in German society. Dix developed an individual approach to New Objectivity, a movement that expressed the degeneration of Weimar Germany through a detached, seemingly documentary style. Dix became preoccupied with diverse experiences of modern womanhood, including emancipated “New Women,” prostitutes, war widows, and working mothers. The subject of pregnancy and birth interested him throughout his career. Here, the artist presented an unflinching depiction of the female body in late pregnancy, a radical approach that rejects a traditional idealization of the female nude for a male audience.ProvenanceUntil 1969, the artist; 1969, to his wife, Martha Dix [d. 1985]; 1985, Dix Estate; (Serge Sabarsky [1912-1996], New York, NY); 1996-2013, Vally Sabarsky Trust, New York, NY; (2013, Moeller Fine Art, New York, NY); 2013, purchased by the Worcester Art Museum.

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