Drei Bauern 1922

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this drawing of three farmers at an undetermined date. I love the vulnerability here, laid bare by Kirchner's scratchy lines. The cross-hatching feels like an anxious energy, like he's trying to capture something fleeting before it disappears. The surface is raw, almost like a half-erased memory. Look at the way the lines around the central figure's face seem to crumble, adding to this sense of unease. You can almost feel the scratching of the pen, the artist wrestling with his subject. It reminds me of some of Egon Schiele’s drawings, both artists share that nervous energy, that desire to capture something just out of reach. What is so fascinating to me is that this piece isn't trying to offer answers, but instead invites us to linger in the questions, the uncertainties, of seeing and feeling.