Old Woman

c. 1923 · Drawing and Watercolor

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Old Woman” now? Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 11 days ago
In this state since: Aug 19, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the work

After serving in World War I, where he mastered the machine-gun, Dix began making art that set out to reveal society’s immorality and ugly truths. In this watercolor, an old prostitute’s wrinkled exterior and toothless, puckered mouth remind the viewer of the inevitability of death while playing on our vulnerability to vanity, greed, and lust.

Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0

Details

Accession number: 2013.929

In the catalog

Drawings & watercolors Ink Modernism 20th century Germany

Sources

Art Institute of Chicago
Image: Art Institute of Chicago — © the artist or rights holder

In the life of Otto Dix

The whole life

1920s
A ruthless chronicle of Weimar Germany
Like Grosz, Dix is extremely critical of contemporary German society, unsparingly depicting prostitution, violence, old age and death and often dwelling on Lustmord, or sexualized murder. His legless and disfigured veterans, a common sight on Berlin's streets in the 1920s, reveal the ugly side of war and the forgotten status of these men in German society.
1921
Meeting Martha Koch
Dix meets the metalsmith Martha Koch; they will marry in 1923 and have three children, and she becomes a frequent subject of his portraits.
1 February 1923
Married: Martha Dix
14 June 1923
Daughter born: Nelly Dix
1925
The Neue Sachlichkeit exhibition in Mannheim
Dix contributes to the Neue Sachlichkeit exhibition in Mannheim, which also features works by George Grosz, Max Beckmann, Heinrich Maria Davringhausen, Karl Hubbuch, Rudolf Schlichter, Georg Scholz and many others.
1925
The Trench scandal: Adenauer cancels the purchase
The Trench causes such a furor that the Wallraf-Richartz Museum hides the painting behind a curtain; in 1925 the then-mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer, cancels the purchase of the painting and forces the museum's director to resign.