Sich sonnende Badende 1909

This is ‘Sich sonnende Badende’ by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and it looks like a woodcut printed in black and green. I can imagine Kirchner working on the block, carving away at the wood to create these bold, angular lines, figuring out how to make a nude lying in what could be a field, or a clearing, appear. You get the sense that the artist has to kind of fight with the material to get it to do what they want. I think Kirchner was maybe thinking about Gauguin or the German Expressionist group, Die Brücke, who were exploring similar themes of nature and the human form. There is a sense of shared visual language, like a visual conversation happening between artists. The green areas feel like flat planes, grounding the figure, while the black lines create definition. I am really drawn to the figure itself: a simple, elegant gesture that captures the essence of someone basking in the sun. Ultimately, it reminds me that painting and printmaking are ways of seeing and feeling.