The French are Sitting on the Couch 1910

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this drawing, The French are Sitting on the Couch, using swift charcoal lines on paper. Just look at these figures! Kirchner is great at capturing the essence of a gesture with just a few marks. I like the idea of the French, chilling on a couch—you can almost feel the weight of their bodies sinking into the cushions. The charcoal feels immediate, like he’s trying to capture a fleeting moment, or a memory. Those scribbled lines, they could be anything—shadows, folds in fabric, or just the artist thinking aloud on paper. It reminds me that drawing can be a way of understanding the world, like visual thinking. It’s like Kirchner is saying, “Here’s what I saw, here’s what I felt, make of it what you will.” And that’s the beauty of art, right? It’s an invitation to see things in your own way.