The 'Clown' paintings Otto Dix (1891–1969) produced in the 1920s epitomise his version of German Neue Sachlichkeit ('New Objectivity'). Traumatised by his service in the First World War, Dix turned to the circus performer as an emblem for the moral and economic grotesque of Weimar Germany: beneath the white greasepaint and bright-red lips, the skull emerges and the smile becomes a rictus. The Kunstmuseum Stuttgart holds the world's largest Dix collection, anchoring ongoing scholarship and exhibitions of his devastating critique of postwar German society.

Exhibition Venue

Kunstmuseum Stuttgart

Stuttgart-Mitte, Germany