Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) once said: "I feel as though the outcome is in the air and everything is topsy-turvy... All the same, I keep on trying to get some order in my thoughts and to create a picture of the age out of confusion, which is after all my function." Although he was referring to World War I, and therefore this quote belongs to a later period than these paintings, I believe that interesting connections can be made between the two through Kirchner's recurrent themes. Conflicts, confusion, distress can originate both externally and internally, and can be projected both outwards and inwards. At the same time, these emotions, these states can be found in so many places, in the physical, external world and within our mental, inner self. Expressionist art seeks to portray both external and internal emotions -sometimes even simultaneously- by merging through their impossible brushstrokes faces, bodies, and places in such a way that the physical world, society and the individual become one massive bundle of chaos.
Emotions impregnate almost every piece of Expressionist art. Throughout a quite convulsive period of German History (the first decades of the 20th Century), expressionist works convey the anxieties, fears and darkest forebodings of people at the time. The experience of all the major representatives of German Expressionism was shaped by the dooming ambiance of the pre-World War I years and the feeling of hopelessness and irreparable loss of the post-war period. Many of them enlisted for combat, where they experienced that demolishing shock of the cruelest reality that only human inhumanity can infringe. For them, the war meant a turning point in their lives which was reflected in their work, turning darker, even more pessimistic and harsh.
Kirchner was one of the founding members of an artistic association formed in Dresden in 1905 and called "The Bridge" (Die Brücke), whose main aim was to move away from the past, untie themselves from past constrictions and evolve, design and own a future that necessarily had to belong to them -the new generation. They wanted to bridge past and present as the first step towards building a future conception of art, by blending classical styles and motifs with avant-garde art. The movement was a truly open one, gathering artists interested in exploring different styles, and produced a range of sometimes difficult to classify pieces. Without a doubt, Kirchner was its most influential figure, and during the early years of Die Brücke one of his main artistic obsessions were nude dancers and young models:
Emotions impregnate almost every piece of Expressionist art. Throughout a quite convulsive period of German History (the first decades of the 20th Century), expressionist works convey the anxieties, fears and darkest forebodings of people at the time. The experience of all the major representatives of German Expressionism was shaped by the dooming ambiance of the pre-World War I years and the feeling of hopelessness and irreparable loss of the post-war period. Many of them enlisted for combat, where they experienced that demolishing shock of the cruelest reality that only human inhumanity can infringe. For them, the war meant a turning point in their lives which was reflected in their work, turning darker, even more pessimistic and harsh.
Kirchner was one of the founding members of an artistic association formed in Dresden in 1905 and called "The Bridge" (Die Brücke), whose main aim was to move away from the past, untie themselves from past constrictions and evolve, design and own a future that necessarily had to belong to them -the new generation. They wanted to bridge past and present as the first step towards building a future conception of art, by blending classical styles and motifs with avant-garde art. The movement was a truly open one, gathering artists interested in exploring different styles, and produced a range of sometimes difficult to classify pieces. Without a doubt, Kirchner was its most influential figure, and during the early years of Die Brücke one of his main artistic obsessions were nude dancers and young models:
One of Kirchner's most well-known works, this picture portrays Marzella, a recurrent character in his and in other Brücke members work. Various hypothesis regarding the true identity of the two most famous Bücke girls (Franzi and Marzella) fed over the years helped create a hint of mystery over the many works in which they appear, and over the relationship between them and the artists. Recent discoveries made it possible to finally identify who was the protagonist in many paintings, not without adding to the controversy.
Young girls and dancers were recurrent characters in Kirchner's early work -just as in other Brücke artists. This responds to their obsession with renovation as well as with conveying the decadent feel of the times through the human figure. This painting also shows the main features of expressionist art -bright, well-defined colors, rough brushstrokes which still respect the neighboring color's space, unusual perspectives which do not try to be faithful to outer reality, but that within the artist's mind. Only the colors of the girl's dress and skin are brighter; together with the cat's shiny whiteness, they help make the picture somewhat livelier, as reflecting the tensions between a most-wanted optimism and a surrounding pessimism that is difficult to wash off.
Marzella lies on a sofa; she looks nostalgic, sad, in an almost dreamy state, seemingly submerged in her own internal world. Apart from her, only the cat lying on the sofa next to her and the bottles in the background are given some prominence in the picture. The color of Marzella's dress, very similar to that of the walls, which also reinforces this feeling of unintended camouflage, brought about by the mere detachment from the world around, as if the girl was slowly dissolving. This idea is emphasized by the fact that the actual external space where she is cannot be identified -it could be any room, anywhere. The stripped pattern, which inevitably attracts the eye of the viewer, has some kind of hypnotic effect, also contributing to that feeling of absent-mindedness. The cat and the girl are not interacting, they do not even seem to be noticing each other's presence. However, the fact that they are depicted in a very similar position suggests some kind of empathic connection between them, as if without acknowledging it they still appreciated each other's company. This could be interpreted as the type of relationship the artist has with his muses -they are ever-present, the deep, intimate connection between them fills every space around, and that is why it does not really matter what or where that space is. The dispersed glass bottles in the background, empty or not, strengthen the sensation of controlled chaos -they are not broken, they are all upright, and yet they hint at that state of fake-calm where everything outside seems to be quiet while everything inside is shattering, silently breaking into pieces.
Kirchner's early paintings, to which this 1910 work belongs, often reflected scenes of the bohemian life led by him and his Brücke fellow artists. Disenchanted with the emptiness, the meaninglessness of bourgeoisie life at the time and anxious about the threatening possibility that such lack of passion, such conformism would penetrate into the innermost fabric of all society, they turned to a bohemian lifestyle in search for something else. This something else Kirchner would show in his pictures, where the would unleash his perceptions, shape them, fill them with color, release them. Although that "picture of the age out of confusion" he was trying to paint is more obvious in his collection of street landscapes, this one also shows the purest confusion of all, the deepest, the one that leaves the most profound imprint -that of a teenage girl.
Young girls and dancers were recurrent characters in Kirchner's early work -just as in other Brücke artists. This responds to their obsession with renovation as well as with conveying the decadent feel of the times through the human figure. This painting also shows the main features of expressionist art -bright, well-defined colors, rough brushstrokes which still respect the neighboring color's space, unusual perspectives which do not try to be faithful to outer reality, but that within the artist's mind. Only the colors of the girl's dress and skin are brighter; together with the cat's shiny whiteness, they help make the picture somewhat livelier, as reflecting the tensions between a most-wanted optimism and a surrounding pessimism that is difficult to wash off.
Marzella lies on a sofa; she looks nostalgic, sad, in an almost dreamy state, seemingly submerged in her own internal world. Apart from her, only the cat lying on the sofa next to her and the bottles in the background are given some prominence in the picture. The color of Marzella's dress, very similar to that of the walls, which also reinforces this feeling of unintended camouflage, brought about by the mere detachment from the world around, as if the girl was slowly dissolving. This idea is emphasized by the fact that the actual external space where she is cannot be identified -it could be any room, anywhere. The stripped pattern, which inevitably attracts the eye of the viewer, has some kind of hypnotic effect, also contributing to that feeling of absent-mindedness. The cat and the girl are not interacting, they do not even seem to be noticing each other's presence. However, the fact that they are depicted in a very similar position suggests some kind of empathic connection between them, as if without acknowledging it they still appreciated each other's company. This could be interpreted as the type of relationship the artist has with his muses -they are ever-present, the deep, intimate connection between them fills every space around, and that is why it does not really matter what or where that space is. The dispersed glass bottles in the background, empty or not, strengthen the sensation of controlled chaos -they are not broken, they are all upright, and yet they hint at that state of fake-calm where everything outside seems to be quiet while everything inside is shattering, silently breaking into pieces.
Kirchner's early paintings, to which this 1910 work belongs, often reflected scenes of the bohemian life led by him and his Brücke fellow artists. Disenchanted with the emptiness, the meaninglessness of bourgeoisie life at the time and anxious about the threatening possibility that such lack of passion, such conformism would penetrate into the innermost fabric of all society, they turned to a bohemian lifestyle in search for something else. This something else Kirchner would show in his pictures, where the would unleash his perceptions, shape them, fill them with color, release them. Although that "picture of the age out of confusion" he was trying to paint is more obvious in his collection of street landscapes, this one also shows the purest confusion of all, the deepest, the one that leaves the most profound imprint -that of a teenage girl.