store in the rain 1927

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made “Store in the Rain” with oil paint, though when, I’m not entirely sure. Look at how Kirchner deploys these jolts of color! It’s like he’s pushing the limits of what the eye can handle. The paint is applied in these choppy, uneven layers, which creates a surface that feels almost agitated, like the city itself. Take the building on the left, that odd pastel purple makes a strange contrast with the blood red strokes used for the windows. It is like he wants to capture not just what he sees, but how the modern world *feels*. Kirchner seems to be in conversation with painters like Edvard Munch who captured the psychological intensity of urban life. But while Munch focused on alienation, Kirchner also embraces the energy and chaos of it all. Like his fellow expressionists, he challenges our notions of beauty and invites us to find new ways of seeing, even in the mundane.