Friday, September 9, 2016

Oil Paintings by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Dora with Ruff Collar
ca. 1906
oil on cardboard
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) reportedly denied the influence of post-Impressionist painters like Van Gogh and Gauguin with their non-natural color-schemes. During the decade that preceded the first world war, Kirchner and his fellow Brücke artists were undeniably the first to promote this new style in Dresden and Berlin.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
The Loam Pit
ca. 1906
oil on cardboard
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Fränzi in front of a Carved Chair
1910
canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Kneeling Nude in front of a Red Screen
ca. 1911-12
oil on canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Two Women
1911-12
oil on canvas
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Still Life with Jug and African Bowl
1912
oil on canvas
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Landscape with Chestnut Trees
1913
oil on canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Curving Bay
ca. 1914
oil on canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Two Nudes in a Room
1914
oil on canvas
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Street with Red Streetwalker
ca. 1914-15
canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

In 1915 Kirchner was drafted (under the official designation of "unwilling volunteer") into the German army, where he proceeded to have a nervous breakdown. Eventually discharged, he recovered in Switzerland, and remained there for the rest of his life.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Alpine Kitchen
1918
oil on canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Seated Female Nude
ca. 1921-23
oil on canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Sunday in the Alps
1922
oil on canvas
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Junkerboden under Snow
ca. 1936-38
oil on canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

During the Twenties the artist changed his emphasis to landscape. Simultaneously, his earlier figure-paintings achieved wider acceptance and popularity. When the Nazis classified him as a "degenerate artist" in 1937 they counted more than 600 of his works in German museums  all removed by force. In 1938, still in Switzerland, Kirchner committed suicide.