Women on the Street 1915

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made "Women on the Street" with oil on canvas, its date is unknown, but it now lives at the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal, Germany. Kirchner's mark making in this piece feels almost brutal, a flurry of dark colours, like he's wrestling with the canvas. You can see the strokes, they're urgent, raw, and each one feels like a decision, a step in the process. Up close, you can see how the surface throbs with texture, thick passages of dark blues, greens and greys slashed across a background of yellow. It's like he's trying to capture the mood of the city, the sharp angles of modern life. Take a look at the faces, the way they're reduced to these sharp, almost mask-like features. There's a tension here, like he is both fascinated and repelled by the women. It reminds me a little of Munch's 'The Scream,' in the way it captures a sense of anxiety and alienation, but Kirchner brings his own brand of jagged energy to the canvas. It feels unfinished, unresolved, but maybe that's the point. Art is, after all, a conversation, not a definitive statement.