Group of Artists 1927

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this painting, "Group of Artists," with oil on canvas. The painting is composed of four figures in a very claustrophobic interior space, drenched in blue. The figures are not very blended or shaded, which makes me think about how it might have been to make this painting, quickly, with urgency. I am immediately drawn to the material qualities and textures of the paint itself. You can really see Kirchner working, he isn’t worried about making it look ‘real’. I feel like I can see every brushstroke. Each figure is outlined in black which makes them seem to pop out and gives the scene a kind of graphic, almost cartoonish quality. Maybe it's about him thinking about his place in the group? It makes me wonder if he ever saw his fellow painters as he saw himself. It's something artists do. The act of painting is a conversation with oneself, and also a conversation with other artists, both present and past. It's about being part of a lineage of painters trying to figure out what it means to be human.