Otto Dix's Self-portrait with a Gunner's Helmet/Conncetion Across TIme

Looking at Otto Dix's Self-portrait with a Gunner's Helmet I came to realize yet again the painting Dix created had more than simply meets the eye. Looking at the picture, one can see that the face is dark, sullen, and covered in something red. I interpreted this as a picture of a gunner who was forced to do vicious and vile things in the name of war. The red I assume to be blood and the blood of those people who he has killed. I feel as though the soldier is having a rough time dealing with all the stress and emotional roller coaster so much death and destruction does to one. His mouth seems to be in a frown as well, signaling the soldier is tired of fighting and just wants to return home to his life and family. I see this connected to our own day with soldiers who come back from war and suffer from PTSD. Coming home after years of war, one is different but what is pivotal to the hurt soldiers go through is that those around him have changed as well, and their lives have moved on since he/she has gone to war. This is a hard thing for many soldiers to deal with as well as attempting to ease back into civilian life. Unfortunately this disorder has increased over the past years, and soldiers have even gone as far as becoming mentally unstable or even committed suicide. The effect of war and killing stays with a person forever. The horrors of war never die and can take victims decades after the dust settles. The long-term affects of war are constantly paraded on tv specials informing us to be mindful that a soldier never really leaves a war, because the war comes home with him.