Circus Rider 1914

This painting, Circus Rider, might have been made by Kirchner in a flurry, with oils, brushed and scrubbed in layers of pink and black, green and mauve. Imagine him, standing at the easel, stepping back, squinting, layering up, and building the scene. You can almost feel Kirchner’s presence in the thick impasto of those swirling marks. They give energy to the whole painting: the rider, the horse, even the spectators in the foreground. I imagine he wanted us to feel the dynamism, the drama of the circus. It reminds me a little of Toulouse-Lautrec, of his sketchy, almost cartoonish figures, and his interest in capturing the buzz of Parisian nightlife. It’s like artists are in an ongoing conversation, even across time, riffing on each other’s ideas and styles. Ultimately painting is about feeling your way through it and being open to wherever the process might lead you.