Naked woman at the window c. 1922

This is Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s ‘Naked woman at the window’, probably made with oil on canvas. Look at that paint! So fluid, so drippy and thin. You can really sense the act of making. It's like Kirchner is saying, hey, this is me, painting! I'm drawn to the way the blue of the mountains echoes in the window frame, framing the figure in an interesting way. The colors are vivid, but almost translucent, giving the whole piece a dreamlike quality. It’s as if the artist is capturing a fleeting moment, a memory perhaps. The way Kirchner handles the medium reminds me of Matisse, especially in the way he uses color to define form and space. But where Matisse is harmonious, Kirchner is jarring, raw. Both artists are invested in the process, embracing mistakes and unexpected turns. It’s this openness to experimentation that makes the painting so alive.