Art of the apocalypse: Otto Dix's hellish first world war visions – in pictures

Skulls wearing gas masks, roaming rats and rotting carcasses of animals and humans ... Der Krieg, the series of prints Otto Dix published in 1924, is a terrifying vision of the apocalypse that actually happened on Europe's soil 100 years ago – and proves that it was only German artists who saw the first world war clearly. On show at De La Warr Pavilion from 17 May to 27 July

• Jonathan Jones on the first world war in German art

  • Stormtroops advancing under a gas attack (Sturmtruppe geht unter Gas vor). Gas clouds the atmosphere in this other-worldly scene. The figures' features are obscured by masks and their fingers are curled like claws. Photo: Courtesy The Trustees of the British Museum ©DACS 2014
    Der Krieg no.12 Stormtroops advancing under a gas attack (Sturmtruppe geht unter Gas vor) The scene is other-worldly as gas clouds the atmosphere. Their features are obscured by masks and their fingers are curled like claws. These are men who will kill by any means. But are they men?

  • Corpse of a horse (Pferdekadaver). Men were not the only victims. The war destroyed anything in its path. Photograph: Courtesy The Trustees of the British Museum ©DACS 2014
    Otto Dix, Der Krieg. Der Krieg no.5 Corpse of a horse (Pferdekadaver) Men were not the only victims of their savagery. The war indiscriminately destroyed anything in its path.

  • Collapsed trenches (Zerfallender Kampfgraben). For all its discomfort, the trench was home. Here the enemy managed to destroy a section of home and the scene is depicted almost as Armageddon. Two pieces of tattered cloth hover above the soldier. One resembles the Reaper, the other a vulture. Photograph: Courtesy The Trustees of the British Museum ©DACS 2014
    Der Krieg no.9 Collapsed trenches (Zerfallender Kampfgraben) For all its discomfort, the trench was home. Here the enemy managed to destroy a section of home and the scene is depicted almost as Armageddon. Two pieces of tattered cloth hover above the soldier. One resembles the Reaper, the other a vulture. Each awaits the soldier's fate which is most certainly death.

  • Transporting the Wounded in Houthulst Forest (Verwundetentransport im Houthulster Wald). During the war the automobile was put to work as an ambulance. Trains and steam ships carried the wounded to hospitals. Despite such advances, a wounded man often relied on comrades to get him off the field. Photograph: Courtesy The Trustees of the British Museum ©DACS 2014
    Otto Dix, Der Krieg. Der Krieg no.47 Transporting the Wounded in Houthulst Forest (Verwundetentransport im Houthulster Wald) In the First World War, the automobile was put to work as an ambulance. Trains and steam ships carried wounded to home-front hospitals. Despite such advances, a wounded man often relied on comrades to get him off the field.

  • Front-line Soldier in Brussels (Frontsoldat in Brüssel). A soldier lurks in darkness surrounded by voluptuous whores in expensive clothing. In this view, they are nothing more than war profiteers. In reality they lived in dire poverty. Photo: Courtesy The Trustees of the British Museum ©DACS 2014
    Der Krieg no.34 Front-line Soldier in Brussels (Frontsoldat in Brüssel) A soldier lurks in darkness surrounded by voluptuous whores in expensive clothing. In this view, they are nothing more than war profiteers. In reality they lived in dire poverty.

  • Skull (Schädel). The war provided a windfall for scavengers such as worms and maggots. Trench rats roamed as big as beavers. Gas was sometimes a welcome respite as it decimated these pests. Photograph: Courtesy The Trustees of the British Museum ©DACS 2014
    Der Krieg no.31 Skull (Schädel) For all its waste, the war provided a windfall for scavengers. The First World War produced generations of happy worms and maggots. Trench rats roamed as big as beavers. Gas was sometimes a welcome respite as it decimated these pests.

  • Crater field near Dontrien lit up by flares (Trichterfeld bei Dontrien, von Leuchtkugeln erhellt). Throughout the series, Dix demonstrates a commanding use of print techniques with etching, dry point and aquatint. Here a night-time flare illuminates a lunar landscape. Photograph: Courtesy The Trustees of the British Museum ©DACS 2014
    Otto Dix, Der Krieg. Der Krieg no.4 Crater field near Dontrien lit up by flares (Trichterfeld bei Dontrien, von Leuchtkugeln erhellt) Already by plate number four we begin to understand this is no ordinary series of etchings. Throughout the series, Dix demonstrates a commanding use of print techniques with etching, dry point and aquatint. Here a night time flare illuminates a lunar landscape.

  • Mealtime in the Trenches (Mahlzeit in der Sappe). A trench soldier quickly gulps down a meal in the company of a human skeleton trapped in the frozen landscape beside him. Photograph: Courtesy The Trustees of the British Museum ©DACS 2014
    Der Krieg no.13 Mealtime in the Trenches (Mahlzeit in der Sappe) A trench soldier quickly gulps a meal in the company of a human skeleton trapped in the frozen landscape beside him.

  • Dead sentry in the trenches (Toter Sappenposten). Throughout this series, Dix presents a wide array of ways in which a soldier can meet his death. Here, a soldier remains posed in the exact position he held at the moment the sniper's bullet found its target. Photograph: Courtesy The Trustees of the British Museum ©DACS 2014
    Der Krieg no.18 Dead sentry in the trenches (Toter Sappenposten) Throughout this series, Dix presents a wide array of ways in which a soldier can meet his death. We've seen men ripped by bullets as they were tangled in barbed wire or buried alive as a trench collapsed. In this plate, a soldier remains posed in the exact position he held at the moment the sniper's bullet found its target.

  • Roll Call of Returning Troops (Appell der Zurückgekehrten). The war took a great toll on all its participants. Here the living are barely distinguishable from the dead. They report to a well-fed administrative officer in a clean, pressed uniform. Photograph: Courtesy The Trustees of the British Museum ©DACS 2014
    Der Krieg no.49 Roll Call of Returning Troops (Appell der Zurückgekehrten) The war took a great toll on all its participants. Here the living are barely distinguishable from the dead. They report to a well-fed administrative officer in a clean pressed uniform.

  • Gas victims – Templeux-la-Fosse, August 1916 (Gastote). By 1924, people were aware of the horrors of gas but censored wartime reporting spared many from its ghastly details. Here the results are depicted with the raw clarity of someone who was there. Many were probably struck by the appearance of the victims, darkened for lack of oxygen, and the nonchalance of the medical staff. Photograph: Courtesy The Trustees of the British Museum ©DACS 2014
    Der Krieg no.3 Gas victims - Templeux-la-Fosse, August 1916 (Gastote - Templeux-la-Fosse, August 1916) By 1924, people were aware of the horrors of gas but censored wartime reporting spared many from its ghastly details. Here the results are depicted with raw clarity of someone who was there. Indeed, much of Der Krieg was based on Dix's wartime diary drawings. Many were probably struck by the appearance of the victims, darkened for lack of oxygen and the nonchalance of the medical staff who had seen it many times before.

  • Dead man in the mud (Toter im Schlamm). Mud defined a soldier's experience on the Western Front. He marched in it, slept in it, fought in it and often died in it. For the artist it offered rich textures which Dix captured nicely with aquatint. Photograph: Courtesy The Trustees of the British Museum ©DACS 2014
    Der Krieg no.23 Dead man in the mud (Toter im Schlamm) Mud defined a soldier's experience on the Western Front. He marched in it, slept in it, fought in it and often died in it. For the artist it offered rich textures which Dix captured nicely with aquatint.
Topics