Couple 1908

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this drawing, Couple, with crayons and coloured pencils. What strikes me first is how Kirchner’s process feels laid bare; the sketch-like quality emphasizes artmaking as a series of choices, corrections and adjustments. Look closely, and you'll see the wobbly orange lines that define the figures. There's a real tension in the way he renders the bodies with such a raw, almost awkward energy. The colors are bright but slightly jarring – yellows, greens and blues that vibrate against the creamy paper. The marks are loose, scribbled even, as if he was trying to capture a fleeting impression. See the way he uses the side of the crayon to shade the forms, and the way the colors bleed into each other, creating a hazy effect? I'm reminded of how Picasso would take a subject and break it apart, showing us multiple perspectives at once. Kirchner does something similar here, not with fractured forms, but with an emotional intensity that feels both intimate and unsettling. Like a deconstructed love poem, maybe.