Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

German, 1880 - 1938

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A man and woman with pale, pink-colored skin hold hands and dance in this stylized, abstracted vertical painting. The woman’s breasts are exposed, and a single teal-green cloth edged in sapphire blue appears to encase both of their torsos. The man is behind the woman just to our left, and he looks down at her. Her shoulders face us, but she looks back at him, both in profile. Their faces are each painted with one or two strokes each for eyebrows, eyes, lips, and, for the man, a nose. Their hands are lifted and joined, blending into single forms, and the woman takes a wide step to our left. Their bodies are outlined with maroon red, black, or slate blue. The background is ice blue interspersed with angular, tent-like forms painted in royal blue, pale blue, and maroon. The frame is shown and reveals that the painting was done on the back of a stretched canvas. A label affixed to the top rail reads “Nachl. E.L. Kirchner TA/BH 19.”
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Dancing Couple in the Snow [reverse], 1928-1929, oil on canvas, Ruth and Jacob Kainen Collection, Gift in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1989.60.1.b

Dancing Couple in the Snow [reverse]

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1928-1929 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1989.60.1.b

Two nude women, painted in vibrant coral peach and bubblegum pink, stand under a red umbrella in a landscape in this stylized, vertical painting. The scene is painted with areas of flat or streaked color with visible brushstrokes throughout. The women and umbrella take up most of the picture. The woman on our left stands facing our right almost in profile. Her skin is vivid peach. Slashes of red outline her breasts, groin, and legs. Her hair, eyes, and eyebrows are painted with black strokes. She stands on one leg and stretches the other in front of her to overlap the far foot of the other woman. The first woman hooks her arm through the elbow of the other, who stands facing us to our right. This second woman has vivid pink skin also outlined in red. Her face is a darker shade of pink, resembling a mask, and her eyes are parallel strokes of black and blue. Her left arm, on our right, hangs by her side, and she holds the umbrella with the other arm. She either wears a hat or her hair is painted with alternating bands of black, red, and brown, and there is a red flower or bow to one side. Black lines in the candy-red umbrella suggest a rib on the underside and the handle. Cobalt-blue branches of a tree above the women has blue and green leaves. The landscape beyond them is made up of bands of acid green, yellow, saturated blue, and cool green.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Two Girls under an Umbrella, 1910, oil on canvas, Collection of Arnold and Joan Saltzman, 1992.58.1

Two Girls under an Umbrella

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1910 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1992.58.1

In saturated, vivid tones of mint green, marigold orange, dandelion yellow, sky blue, and rose pink, a long building stretches away from us along a walkway. The narrow end of the building facing us to the right is orange, and the long side is frosty green. The roof is painted garnet red, and the windows are created with slashes of midnight blue and dark red outlined with topaz blue. A wall enclosing the structure is lemon-lime yellow, and a fence in front of that is painted ultramarine blue. The walkway beneath the fence is pink and, to the left of that, pale blue. Two trees painted with twisting lines of ruby red, shamrock green, black, and off white edge into the scene along the left side, and the sky is lapis blue around a mint-green halo that surrounds the building’s roofline and walls. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes throughout.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Dance Hall Bellevue [obverse], 1909/1910, oil on canvas, Ruth and Jacob Kainen Collection, Gift in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1989.60.1.a

Dance Hall Bellevue [obverse]

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1909/1910 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1989.60.1.a

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Feelings, 1937, woodcut printed in black, Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen, 2012.92.706

Feelings

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1937 · woodcut printed in black ·  Accession ID  2012.92.706

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Nudes Dancing around a Shadow, 1936, woodcut printed in black on Japan paper [proof], Purchased as the gift of Nelson Blitz, Jr. and Catherine Woodard in Honor of Perri and Allison Blitz, 2015.93.1

Nudes Dancing around a Shadow

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1936 · woodcut printed in black on Japan paper [proof] ·  Accession ID  2015.93.1

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Woman in the Bathtub, 1936, woodcut printed in black, Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen, 2012.92.705

Woman in the Bathtub

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1936 · woodcut printed in black ·  Accession ID  2012.92.705

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, From the Apocalypse, 1936, etching, Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen, 2012.92.730

From the Apocalypse

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1936 · etching ·  Accession ID  2012.92.730

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Mountain Stream with Bathers, 1934, etching, Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen, 2012.92.729

Mountain Stream with Bathers

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1934 · etching ·  Accession ID  2012.92.729

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Dancer Practicing, 1934, woodcut printed in black, Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen, 2012.92.704

Dancer Practicing

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1934 · woodcut printed in black ·  Accession ID  2012.92.704

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Bern Kunsthalle: März 33: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Davos, 1933, color woodcut on heavy wove paper, Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen, 2012.92.139

Bern Kunsthalle: März 33: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Davos

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1933 · color woodcut on heavy wove paper ·  Accession ID  2012.92.139

Bibliography

1968

  • Gordon, Donald E. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1968.