Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a German expressionist painter and printmaker. He was one of the founders of the artists group Die Brücke or "The Bridge", a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20th-century art. Kirchner volunteered for army service in the First World War, but soon suffered a breakdown and was discharged. His work was branded as "degenerate" by the Nazis in 1933, and in 1937 more than 600 of his works were sold or destroyed.
Paintings by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Self-Portrait as a Soldier (1915)
Self-Portrait as a Soldier, or Selbstbildnis als Soldat, is an Expressionist oil-on-canvas painting by the German artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Kirchner created this self-depiction in 1915, following his medical discharge from military service during the First World War. The artwork measures 69 centimetres in height by 61 centimetres in width. The painting was first exhibited in the 'Städtische Galerie' in Germany between 1916 and 1919 and currently resides at the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Ohio USA. Critical interpretations of the painting attribute its stark Expressionist style and myriad of symbolic elements to the socio-political turbulence of Germany during the First World War. Self Portrait as a Soldier may be viewed as testimony to Kirchner's volatile mental and physical health and as a critique of the chaotic instability of Germany during the early 20th century.
Self Portrait as a Soldier depicts Kirchner as a gaunt and utilitarian soldier wearing the 75th Mansfeld Field Artillery Regiment uniform. He stands in an artist's studio, positioned prominently within the artwork's foreground. A nude female figure, situated in front of a black canvas, is depicted behind him. The soldier holds up the bloodied stump of his right hand, which is juxtaposed against depiction of his left hand as deformed and claw-like. The soldier's military uniform is painted using rich blue and red colours. Skin tones of both the soldier and female figure are a sickly yellow. The artwork has a cropped composition, created by framing the figures with bright orange and green hues used in the background. Both Kirchner and the nude female figure are not drawn to scale. The Allen Memorial Art Museum cites that the "soldier has an elongated face and other blurred features, while the woman's shoulders are disproportionate to that of a true human form."
Female Half-Length Nude with Hat (1911)
Female Half-Length Nude with Hat (German: Weiblicher Halbakt mit Hut) is an 1911 oil on canvas painting by the German Expressionist painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. It is currently held at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne.
The work depicts Kirchner's lover and model Doris Große, known as "Dodo". The pair met in Dresden around 1903 or 1904, maintaining a relationship until 1911 when Kirchner moved from Dresden to Berlin. Dodo was a milliner who designed extravagant ladies’ hats which frequently appeared in Kirchner's portraits. In this work, she is shown partially undressed, wearing a hat, and with a distant look.
Portrait of Erna Schilling (1913)
Portrait of Erna Schilling, also known as Sick Woman or Woman with an Hat, is an oil-on-canvas painting executed in 1913 by the German Expressionist artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. It depicts the nightclub dancer Erna Schilling, from Berlin, who after Kirchner's move from Dresden to Berlin in 1911, became his friend and model, and later, common-law wife. The portrait shows Kirchner's signature on the top left: EL Kirchner. It has been in the collection of the National Gallery, in Berlin, since 1989.
After moving from Dresden to Berlin in October 1911, Kirchner met the dancer Erna Schilling and her sister Gerda in a Berlin nightclub. He became her friend and she became his model. It was a relationship of equals that lasted until Kirchner's suicide in 1938 in Davos, Switzerland. In 1913, Erna felt ill and had a melancholy, irritable mood, which Kirchner depicted artistically in this portrait.
Berlin Street Scene (1913)
Berlin Street Scene (German: Berliner Straßenszene) is a 1913 painting from the cycle Street scenes, by the German expressionist artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The cycle, created by Kirchner between 1913 and 1915, often depicts "Kokotten" (prostitutes) with their clients, and is regarded as one of the most important works of German Expressionism.
In the painting foreground, two prostitutes are seen wearing very colourful clothing with elaborate lace collars and high-fashion hats. Two clients are depicted— one is facing the viewer, one is facing the prostitutes. The model for the clients probably was the artist's friend, Otto Mueller, but it is possible that Kirchner depicted himself as the model. The models for the two prostitutes are the sisters Erna and Gerad Schilling.
Street scenes (Ernst Kirchner artworks)
The street scenes are a series of works by the German artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made between 1913 and 1915. The cycle is regarded as one of the most important works of German expressionism. It consists of 11 paintings, 32 pages from sketchbooks, 15 ink brush drawings, 17 pastel and chalk drawings, 14 woodcuts, 14 etchings and 8 lithographs. The series deals with the Berlin of the early 20th century and its development into a metropolis. The works frequently depict "Koketten" (prostitutes), who serve as a metaphor for the hectic pace and sensuality of the growing city.
The paintings are the central part of the work of art. The first painting is "Five women on the street". The dynamic in the composition increased during the period of origin. Style elements of futurism but also elements of Mannerism can also be found. The paintings were mostly finished in 1914. Some of them were finished in 1915 and others in the 1920s.
Street, Berlin (Kirchner) (1913)
Street, Berlin is an oil painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner painted in 1913 before the outbreak of World War I. At this time, Kirchner painted several different street scenes that illustrated the chaos of city life and the relationship between men and women.
Street, Berlin depicts a busy street scene as men and women walk down the sidewalk. Two women in the central foreground are the focal point of the piece. The woman on the left wears a purple dress, a pop of color which contrasts with the mostly black clothing of the men that surround the pair. The men in the background form an undifferentiated mass; their clothes flow into one another and their non-distinct facial features cause the viewer to connect with the women because they are the only two with a sense of identity. Kirchner uses some anti-naturalistic color in this piece including the skin of the figures which varies between shades of pink and orange as well as the blue and pink shades in the scenery. The anti-naturalistic tones are common in German Expressionism and in his other work during this time period.
Archers (Kirchner) (1935)
Archers is an oil-on-canvas painting by German painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, created in 1935–1937, at his Swiss home town of Davos. It belongs to his last phase, in which he abandoned the Expressionism of his earlier work. The painting depicts three people engaged in the sport of archery. On the back it bears the signature EL Kirchner. The painting is part of the collection of the Kirchner Museum Davos.
The painting shows three people engaged in archery. A female figure in the foreground holds arrows in her hands, while the male figure on the left drawns the bow. The middle figure is shown in a tense posture. What they all have in common is their concentrated gaze directed at the target. The step position forms a pronounced diagonal from bottom left to the target, at top right, which thus forms the vanishing point of the perspective.
Alpine Kitchen (1918)
Alpine Kitchen is an oil painting on canvas by German artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, executed in 1918. It was made when the painter was temporarily living in a mountain hut in the Alps, at 1900 meters of height, above Davos. The house still exists almost in his original form. The painting came from Kirchner's estate and today belongs to the collection of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.
The painting has a square format with the dimensions of 121.5 by 121.5 cm. It is signed, with a small signature at the bottom right that reads EL Kirchner and on the back is the name KN-Da/Ad2. In Donald E. Gordon's catalog raisonné it bears the number 518. It was exhibited in Frankfurt/Main in 1922 and in Berlin in 1926.
Five Bathing Women at a Lake (1911)
Five Bathing at a Lake (German: Fünf badende am See) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Expressionist German painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, from 1911. It depicts five nude women, in different poses, near a lake, four of them with their feet already in the water. The painting is in the Brücke Museum, in Berlin.
The Red Tower in Halle (1915)
The Red Tower in Halle (German: Der Rote Turm in Halle) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the German expressionist painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, executed in 1915. It is now housed at Museum Folkwang, Essen.
The painting shows the market square in the town of Halle with the Red Tower. The 15th-century neo-Gothic bell tower surmounts a red brick building. On the left stands the Marktkirche with its four towers. Only the tram crosses the deserted square. The view is plunging and unfolds parallel to the plane of the painting. Clouds of smoke in the background recall the proximity of war.
The Bridge near Wiesen (1926)
The Bridge near Wiesen, also known as The Bridge at Wiesen, is an oil-on-canvas painting by the German painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, from 1926. It depicts the Wiesen Viaduct, south of Davos, in Switzerland. It is signed on the bottom right of the center and is dated '26' on the back. The painting is held at the Kirchner Museum Davos.
In the years 1925/1926, a stylistic change started to appear in Kirchner's work. In his depictions of people he tried more abstract approaches, while in his landscapes he pursued a precise representationalism without formal experiments such as the distortions painted earlier.