Drei Knaben (Söhne Fehr) 1915

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this woodcut, Drei Knaben, sometime around the beginning of the 20th Century. The process of wood cutting allows for a graphic simplicity. It’s a good way to quickly arrive at the essence of things, not unlike drawing. Look at the bottom of the image, where there's a series of what look like geometric zig-zags. It’s a jumble of shapes, a kind of chaos, but it pulls the eye down, preventing it from resting too comfortably on the figures. This visual tension is reinforced in the faces of the boys, with their dark, staring eyes. They are presented as a group, but each is isolated, caught in their own thoughts. This piece reminds me a little of some of the German Expressionist painters like Otto Dix who Kirchner was working alongside. But what I love about art is that it is never a singular answer to any question. It leaves space for us, as viewers, to bring our own experiences into the mix.