Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Kirchner, a founding member of the artist group, Die Brücke (The Bridge), was instrumental in the development of one of early Modern Art’s cornerstone movements: German Expressionism. Active as a painter, printmaker and sculptor, Kirchner is especially known for nude studies and scenes of Berlin street life in the years before World War I. His own experience during that conflict (he served in a German artillery unit) resulted in a nervous breakdown, but after a period of checking in and out of sanitariums for treatment of alcoholism and barbiturate dependency, he righted his life and by the 1920s, found some measure of success. Later, however, he was targeted by the Nazis as a “degenerate artist,” and committed suicide in 1938 as a result. This major overview of his oeuvre covers the period from 1907 to 1937.