View into a Cafe 1935

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this watercolour, View into a Cafe, to describe a scene, not capture it. The ink outlines have a cartoonish quality to them, don't they? They reminded me of a Matisse drawing, all confidence and gesture. But there's also something more disturbing going on, a kind of rawness, which makes the work feel immediate, despite the time that has passed. Look at the woman in black sitting at the table. Her hands are pale against the dark of her dress, a stark contrast that draws your eye. The blue smudges above her are really intriguing. They feel almost like another head, or some kind of psychic emanation. Kirchner’s loose, expressive handling of the watercolour reminds us that art is not just about representation, but also about feeling and about how we process the world around us. Like the paintings of another German Expressionist, Max Beckmann, this piece encourages us to embrace ambiguity and multiple interpretations.