Stilleben mit Enzian und Türkenbund 1920

This is "Stilleben mit Enzian und Türkenbund," or "Still Life with Gentian and Turk's Cap Lilies," by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and it's made with watercolor, a medium that lets you really see the process. Look at how the colors bleed into each other; that sense of fluidity tells you something about Kirchner's way of working. There’s a kind of dance happening between the blue of the gentian and the red of the Turk's cap lilies, with these bold, dark shapes almost like shadows holding them in place. The transparency of the watercolor means you can see the paper underneath, giving the whole thing a light, airy feel, even with those heavy blacks. Notice that dark, vertical mark to the right, it's almost sculptural, it holds the space and creates a tension with the delicate flowers. It’s like he’s wrestling with form, trying to pin down something fleeting. This kind of expressive use of color and form links Kirchner to other expressionist painters like Emil Nolde, who used color in equally bold and emotional ways. It's like they're all having this conversation about how to express inner feelings through paint.