Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: 1880-1938
Born on May 6, 1880, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was one of the most prolific of the German expressionist artists. Kirchner studied architecture at the Königliche Technische Hochschule in Dresden before forming Die Brücke (The Bridge) in 1905 with several other students as an opposition to the academic art that they encountered. Kirchner worked at a fast pace, was well received, and in a short period, his works were held in a number of private and institutional collections.
Kirchner joined the German army at the beginning of World War I, but suffered a nervous breakdown and was discharged in 1915. In 1918, he moved to Davos, Switzerland, living in a farmhouse in the Alps. Despite ill health, he continued to produce major paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture. Through the 1920s, major exhibitions of his work were held in Berlin, Frankfurt, Dresden, and other cities.
Labeled a “degenerate” artist by the Nazis, Kirchner was asked to resign from the Berlin Academy of Arts in 1933. In 1937, more than 600 of his works were confiscated from German museums and were either destroyed or sold. The psychological suffering caused by the Nazi’s rejection, the confiscation and destruction of his works, and the Nazi occupation of Austria close to his home, led to Kirchner’s suicide on June 15, 1938.
Kirchner’s works are in major museums and galleries around the world. In November 2006 at Christie’s, Kirchner’s Street Scene, Berlin (shown below) sold for a record $38 million.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: Street Scene-Berlin (1913)
Sources: National Gallery of Art, Wikipedia
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