The Wounded Soldier

The Wounded Soldier, a German Expressionism painting, was made in 1917 by Otto Dix, a German artist. Otto Dix fought in the first World War, where he was haunted and traumatized by what he experienced (Potash). After the war, Dix suffered from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Potash). The painting depicts a soldier wounded in battle, falling to the ground. The expression of the soldier is that of horror and pain. The painting reflects the style of art after World War I, which took a darker more depressing turn. 

The Wounded Soldier not only depicts the trauma Dix was experiencing, but also how the world felt during the Modern era; they were horrified by World War I. Many soldiers suffered from PTSD, and could not forget the brutality of what they experienced in the war. This response to the war caused a shift in society, and ultimately led to the Postmodern era. The war was evil, therefore everything that caused the war to happen was evil as well; previous ways of life were rejected. There was no way the world could progress to perfection if something as awful as World War I could occur. The art at this time was a response to the war, and an expression of what society was feeling. There was a rejection of "beautiful" art because it didn't accurately depict the horrors of human life (Potash). 

This painting shows how people were beginning to view war as something horrible, Catch-22 goes in continuum with the denouncing of war and leads to the eventual rejection of war. Fight Club shows the society that emerges because of that rejection of war.