“The Match Seller” Otto Dix, 1921
Social Criticism in the painting “The Match Seller” by Otto Dix
The painting “The Match Seller” was completed by Otto Dix in 1920. The painting speaks of post-war dehumanization, ignorance and the painter’s social criticism. “Dix was wounded several times along the Western Front. In August 1918, he served in Flanders where he took a nearly fatal wound to the neck” (Fulmer). The painter himself experienced irreversible traumas and the horrors of the war. The artwork depicts a blind war veteran without legs and arms selling matches in the street. The people who pass by ignore the man, the faces of the pedestrians are not portrayed. The dog urinates on the man’s stump. McKiernan states that Dix portrays Germany as “economically and socially broken—demoralized, resentful and violent.” This is an accurate description of the overall mood of the painting. The artwork challenges the social, cultural, economic, political and even spiritual values of the time. The social gap and the absence of communication between classes are vividly represented in “The Match Seller.”
The painting encompasses the elements of cubism and Dadaism. The central figure is a crippled man, a war veteran. He cries out “‘Streichhölzer, Echte Schwedenhölzer’ (‘Matches, genuine Swedish matches’)” (McKiernan). Behind the man, there is a door with wooden elements resembling a crucifix. The man and the door are painted in dark colors and placed in the middle of the artwork. Brightly painted and long-legged pedestrians are running by without looking at the man. The dog with a joyful expression is urinating on the man’s stump, suggesting that he is not even considered a human being. He is not noticed neither by people nor by the pet. There is absolutely no respect and attention. The veteran attempts to join the social structure by selling the matches. The ironic symbol of the matches is particularly disheartening. Fire is often associated with destruction. In the context of the painting, it could hint the “remains” of the war. There are only Swedish matches left from years of firing canons and guns.
The war veteran has no limbs and this is a symbol that speaks of both physical and social powerlessness. Black glasses point to the fact that the man is also blind and unable to see the horrors of ignorance. His survival after the war has zero appreciation. This lack of recognition could be viewed as the core social criticism in Dix’s work. The new generation fails to recognize a war survivor and there is not just ignorance, but even shame depicted in the artwork. The people refuse to look back at the past, the suffering and war victims. The victory is viewed as triumphant, but the “isolation and the poverty” of the man who is “not represented as an officer decorated with medals” (Vlajiü) suggests that there are absolutely no positive sides to war. Besides traumas, the detail that hints at the man’s past experience is his old uniform hat (Vlajiü).
“The Match Seller” is an artwork loaded with social criticism, details, and symbols that are truly eye-opening. The brutal postwar atmosphere is straightforwardly presented in a realistic and blunt manner. It even seems as if the painter represents not just two different social classes, but two different societies. The passers-by are mechanic and busy, they are a part of the new system and peace that the soldiers were fighting for. Yet the fighters themselves sacrificed their lives to peace. Through Dadaism and cubism, Otto Dix uses forms and textures to create a visual social message that portrays the ugly truth of the era. The synthesis of the forms and clear design principles of “The Match Seller” quickly deliver the message to the viewers. The painting is not only emotion-provoking, but also thought-provoking. It makes a frank statement that there is not just a gap, but a void between people after the war. The society is dehumanized, mechanical, ignorant and deeply traumatized. But worst of all, there is a complete absence of unity.
Fulmer, Jeffrey. “Biography.” Feb. 2009. The Online Otto Dix Project: A German Artist and Print Maker. https://www.ottodix.org/biography/
McKiernan, Mike. “Otto Dix, The Match Seller 1920,” Occupational Medicine, Volume 64, Issue 3, 1 April 2014, Pages 148–149, https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqu007
Writing Assignment ART 109: Art History 2 Renaissance to Modern, Spring 2018
“The Third of May” Francisco de Goya, 1814
Religious Symbolism in Francisco Goya’s “The Third of May 1808”
The painting “The Third of May 1808” (Spanish: “El tres de mayo de 1808 en Madrid”) was completed in 1814 by a Spanish romanticist Francisco Goya. It portrays an execution of the Spaniard civilians by Napoleon’s troops. It reveals the suffering and fear of the people who faced mass killings. The painting is even considered to be “world’s first modern painting” (Zappella). “The Third of May 1808” certainly carries a political message that cannot be overlooked, but also some elements of Goya’s work could be placed within the religious context. The symbolism (i.e. colors, gestures) that the painter uses connotes Christian symbolism, and the statement that Goya makes through the painting is not only political, but also religious: “The Third of May 1808” depicts the Christ figure who expresses suffering for the humankind and sacrifices his life.
The main emphasis is placed on the man in white shirt and yellow pants who kneels in front of the soldiers with his hands up, he surrenders. Goya uses bright illuminating colors to emphasize the man’s saintly figure. The man’s face expresses grief and hopelessness. The expression “echoes Christ’s prayer on the cross, ‘Forgive them Father, they know not what they do’” (Zappella). There is absolutely no communication between the two opposing sides, only the facial expression of the central figure. The man is surrounded by other peasants who await their death, killed people and monks who pray above the ones who died. The troops’ faces are not seen, they are entrenched in the ground with guns in their hands. The openness of the man who surrenders is juxtaposed with the “firing squad” that remains “faceless as they carry out their brutal task” (“Romanticism in Spain”). The firing squad performs execution of the goodness, there is no hope left for the brighter future. The action takes place at night, the lantern is the only source of light. Symbolically, the source of light is not the lantern, but the man who is about to be shot. The Christ figure is surrounded by light and his shirt radiates brighter than the electric lantern. The key detail that reveals the Christ figure in the man’s figure is the stigmata: “[c]lose inspection of the victim’s right hand also shows stigmata, referencing the marks made on Christ’s body during the Crucifixion” (Zappella). The mark is an apparent symbol that unveils Goya’s intention of presenting the man as Christ. The position of the man’s arms could be correlated with the arms position of the dead man in front who is being prayed for. The dead man’s body is directed towards the viewers and this is a symbol of unjust death, a symbol pleading for peace.
The soldiers stand together as a single organism that brings devastation and oppression. They could portray the mechanical nature of an abusive system. The saintly man has nowhere to run, the peasants that surround the man also have no time and nowhere to escape. Monks pray for the dead. Facial expressions and stances tell a different story, yet all soldiers stand in a line and fire their weapons. They reveal the dehumanization and brutality of war.
Works Cited
“Dada.” Westchester Community College. https://art109wcc.wordpress.com/textbook/art-between-the-wars/dada/
Vlajiü, Ada. “Invalidity and deformity in the art of Weimar Republic.” History of Medicine. 71 (4): pp. 413-418. 2014. http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0042-8450/2014/0042-84501404413V.pdf
Justine Guercio 