Portrait of Dr. Bauer 1933

Here we have Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's ‘Portrait of Dr. Bauer’ and what strikes me are the raw, graphic lines and how the colours jostle against each other! I can imagine Kirchner attacking this block with his tools, carving away to reveal the image—each cut a bold declaration. I wonder what it was like for him, wrestling with the wood, making each mark count, and I think of his friendships with other members of Die Brücke. Kirchner and his mates were like a band of brothers, egging each other on, borrowing and riffing off each other’s ideas. This portrait, in its angularity and intensity, feels like a visual shout, a testament to the power of human connection and artistic exchange. The layering of color, that orange against red, creates this vibrating energy. Those bright blue eyes seem to stare right through you, and that can be so telling of the sitter, but also the relationship between the artist and the sitter.