Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Street, Dresden (1908 (reworked 1919; dated on painting 1907))
Ernet Ludwig Kirchner is a German painter and printmaker born in 1880. He co-founded the artist group Die Brücke which means The Bridge. The group helped bring up German expressionism. The group’s goal was to bring out the natural emotions and way of living; however, the group disbanded in 1913. In 1911, Kirchner moved to Berlin to which he found inspiration for his art in the streets. He painted 11 paintings of what he saw happening, known as Berlin Street Scenes. At some point, he joined WWI as a soldier but suffered mentally and was discharged. He settled down in a medical facility near Davos which he started painting again with a more modern art style. However, in 1937, Germany’s Degenerate Art campaign seized works related to modern art, including hundreds of Kirchner’s works in his public collection.
The work I chose is Street, Dresden (1908). The work is a painting of a crowded street. There are many people walking on the sides of the painting. There is a woman in green holding her purse walking alone near the center of the painting and a little green girl in the middle back of the streets. There is also a lady with a red coat walking in the opposite direction of everyone. There is also a pink train in the background that seems to be packed with people. The street floor color is pastel pink with brighter pink and lighter green spots. Many of the people are colored blue, green, and yellow. None of the colors in the painting seem to mix; rather, the colors are clashing, and the same goes for the people.
This work reflects the aesthetic preferences associated with Modernism because the painting depicts the emotional experience he had on the street of Berlin. In expressionism, it’s not about painting what you see rather painting the emotions behind the experience. It views everyday life from a different perspective in the painting. It can be seen in the colors Kirchner chooses and how he paints the people. Especially the clashing of colors with the pink, green, yellow, blue, and red helps depict his emotion at that time on the street. It wasn’t one big harmonious picture; rather, each part of the painting felt independent, creating a foreign vibe. Which was the emotion he felt when he was painting it.
I encountered this work on the 5th floor of the Museum of Modern Art in gallery 504 as I was walking around. It was the biggest piece in that part of the gallery. I was especially drawn to the colors in the painting. When I first saw the piece, I saw the colors pink, yellow, blue, and green. I thought about how aliens are associated with those colors, which made me further think about how aliens are associated with being foreign, like not part of this world. Just the thought of the color association with aliens drew me into the painting and made me think deeper. Questions I have about the artwork: Did Kirchner purposely paint in those specific colors? How did he openly paint in Germany during a strict time? Does the one red lady walking in the other direction have significance?
I think you’re right to focus on Kirchner’s color choices here. One of the things that is typical of many modernist painters is that they move away from a realistic palette (using the colors in which things naturally occur) and use color much more creatively as a way of evoking particular emotions or moods.