Two Women 1911 - 1912

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this painting, Two Women, with oil paint, and I reckon it was a pretty physical process. Look at those colors – not exactly subtle, are they? There's a kind of urgency in the way he puts down the paint, like he's trying to capture a feeling more than a likeness. Check out the way he's handled the edges of those figures. They're not sharply defined, but kind of bleed into the background. It makes the whole scene feel like it's in motion, like these women are caught in a moment, passing through. That jagged, lightning-bolt shape behind them – what's that about? Is it a street? A feeling? Maybe it's just pure visual energy, the kind you get from walking around a city. Kirchner was part of Die Brücke, and they were all about expressing raw emotion. You can almost hear the city's noise and feel the tension in the air. It reminds me a little of Edvard Munch, all that intensity. Painting, for both of them, feels like a way of grappling with the world, one brushstroke at a time.