Badender Junge 1904

Here we have ‘Bathing Boy,’ a woodcut by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. It's all about bold strokes and sharp contrasts, which feels very immediate, like he just went for it, you know? The stark black lines carve out the boy's figure and the water around him, giving everything a real tactile presence. I’m drawn to the way the parallel lines create the impression of water, it's kind of hypnotic. The way the wood is gouged out, it’s so physical. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving through the material. Look at the shadow to the left, how it juts out into the water, disrupting all those lovely horizontal lines. It’s like a little rebellion against the calm surface of the lake, a disruption. Kirchner, like his contemporary Edvard Munch, knew how to express anxiety and alienation, but there's also a raw energy here, a celebration of the body and nature that feels very alive. Art’s a conversation, after all, and Kirchner definitely had something to say.