Reiter im Grunewald 1914

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this artwork, Reiter im Grunewald, with expressive mark making. It's this great interplay of darkness and light that really grabs you, right? Look at the way the black ink clumps together, especially in the upper left corner where the trees meet, or in the dark silhouette of the horse riders. You can almost feel the texture, the grit of the ink, even though it’s a print. And then the scratches of white – how they cut through the darkness to create shapes, light, and movement. It's like he’s wrestling with the medium, pushing it to its limits, which is what I want to do with paint all the time. The frenetic energy reminds me a little of Munch, how he used those woodcuts to convey raw emotion. Kirchner seems to embrace the messiness, the imperfection. And that’s where the magic happens. It’s not about perfection; it's about feeling.