In art school, our art history course included a section on German Expressionism, featuring some paintings by Ludwig Kirchner. They looked something like this:
Ludwig Kirchner, “Street, Berlin” (1913)
I remember not liking them at the time. Expressionism? Everyone’s squeezed in like bristling sardines! The darkness behind the colors, the acidic contrasts, the dampening black, and the sharp downward angles all felt overwhelming to me. After the mention in the books, I never looked him up on my own, and I groaned every time his name came up.
Not a Bonnard – it’s by Kirchner!
Today, though, I was searching for some happy landscape paintings. I’d recently revisited Bonnard’s work, whose colors always delight me, but I wanted to discover something new. That’s when I stumbled across these colorful landscapes by Kirchner—paintings I’d never seen before. Lots and lots of them! They surprised me. Some of the lines and spaces remind me of Cézanne, Van Gogh, or even Mondrian during his late tree phase. The colors feel closer to the French Fauvists—bold, bright, and slightly clashing, but undeniably eye candy.
Kirchner’s earlier works, with their sharp angles and jarring contrasts, described the fractured, anxious world he experienced in early 1900s Germany.
Kirchner’s Self-Portrait as a Soldier” (1915)
Most of his landscapes, however, came later, after his breakdown during World War I. He moved to Davos, Switzerland, in 1917, and in those works, it seems he found something lighter, maybe happiness.
#30SAL Big thanks to everyone who is posting, and giving support to others on social media. As of 11pm Jan 2, there are 163 new art posts on Instagram with the #30SAL and lots of comments. This is fantastic! How many will we have on January 31??? Art & Fear So… I heard some uncertainty and …
Art Walk 2nd Friday, Jan 13 6-9pm Art Activity: Japanese Calligraphy Special Guest Star: Kiki MacInnis, Intro to Ink Instructor JOIN US! We have art, and we have beer
In recent V. Notes, I have shared some of Carlos San Millan’s favorite painters. So far I’ve posted Kim Frohsin, Mitchell Johnson, Yann Kebbi, Марина Цветаева (Marina Tsvetyeva), and Sangram Majumdar. Today I’m posting Bato Dugarzhapov. Bato is a Russian painter born in 1966. I had his work saved for a V. Note someday. Looks …
Every president of the United States selects art for the White House. As our 44th president, Barak Obama and his family proceeded to select art – borrowed from three museums in Washington: the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the National Gallery of Art – for the family quarters, east …
Unexpected Happiness in Landscapes by Kirchner
In art school, our art history course included a section on German Expressionism, featuring some paintings by Ludwig Kirchner. They looked something like this:
Ludwig Kirchner, “Street, Berlin” (1913)
I remember not liking them at the time. Expressionism? Everyone’s squeezed in like bristling sardines! The darkness behind the colors, the acidic contrasts, the dampening black, and the sharp downward angles all felt overwhelming to me. After the mention in the books, I never looked him up on my own, and I groaned every time his name came up.
Today, though, I was searching for some happy landscape paintings. I’d recently revisited Bonnard’s work, whose colors always delight me, but I wanted to discover something new. That’s when I stumbled across these colorful landscapes by Kirchner—paintings I’d never seen before. Lots and lots of them! They surprised me. Some of the lines and spaces remind me of Cézanne, Van Gogh, or even Mondrian during his late tree phase. The colors feel closer to the French Fauvists—bold, bright, and slightly clashing, but undeniably eye candy.
Kirchner’s earlier works, with their sharp angles and jarring contrasts, described the fractured, anxious world he experienced in early 1900s Germany.
Kirchner’s Self-Portrait as a Soldier” (1915)
Most of his landscapes, however, came later, after his breakdown during World War I. He moved to Davos, Switzerland, in 1917, and in those works, it seems he found something lighter, maybe happiness.
Unexpected Happiness in Landscapes by Kirchner
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#30SAL Big thanks to everyone who is posting, and giving support to others on social media. As of 11pm Jan 2, there are 163 new art posts on Instagram with the #30SAL and lots of comments. This is fantastic! How many will we have on January 31??? Art & Fear So… I heard some uncertainty and …
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Art Walk 2nd Friday, Jan 13 6-9pm Art Activity: Japanese Calligraphy Special Guest Star: Kiki MacInnis, Intro to Ink Instructor JOIN US! We have art, and we have beer
Bato Dugarzhapov
In recent V. Notes, I have shared some of Carlos San Millan’s favorite painters. So far I’ve posted Kim Frohsin, Mitchell Johnson, Yann Kebbi, Марина Цветаева (Marina Tsvetyeva), and Sangram Majumdar. Today I’m posting Bato Dugarzhapov. Bato is a Russian painter born in 1966. I had his work saved for a V. Note someday. Looks …
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Every president of the United States selects art for the White House. As our 44th president, Barak Obama and his family proceeded to select art – borrowed from three museums in Washington: the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the National Gallery of Art – for the family quarters, east …