Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Kirchner was one of the founders of Die Brücke in Dresden in 1905. The group became central to German Expressionism, using bold color, jagged forms, and emotionally charged figures.

His Berlin street paintings show sharp, elongated figures in modern urban settings, often with a sense of tension and alienation. They are among the most recognizable images of German Expressionism before World War I.

Kirchner served briefly during World War I and suffered a serious breakdown. Afterward, his work and life shifted, and he spent much of his later career in Switzerland.

The Nazi regime condemned many Expressionist works as so-called degenerate art, and Kirchner's paintings were removed from German museums. That persecution deepened the later tragedy around an artist already marked by war and illness.