Im Palast der Prinzessinnen c. 1922

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner painted "Im Palast der Prinzessinnen" with oil paint, and look at the colors, they are so brave. It's like he’s throwing colors at us and hoping they stick. The surface has this rough, almost urgent quality, where you can see the marks where he has laid down the paint. The bodies are all smudged and raw, like he’s not trying to pretty them up. Take the figure in the center, she has these huge doll-like eyes that seem to be staring right through you. There is something both intriguing and disturbing about them. It is like he’s trying to capture something that goes beyond appearances. Kirchner was part of the 'Die Brücke' group, and you can see them all trying to capture these kinds of heightened emotional states in their work. Like Munch maybe, but in a more German way. They’re all searching for something real, even if it's messy and not always pretty.