Female Nude Before a Cabinet 1916

This is an Expressionist woodcut made by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner using stark contrasts and a reduced palette. Imagine Kirchner, wrestling with the wood, carving out these angular shapes. It's like he's attacking the surface, trying to get at something raw and visceral! I feel like Kirchner is exploring the tension between the interior and exterior worlds in this nude. Is she trapped or protected by the cabinet? The heavy, dark lines that define the cabinet and the figure's form give it a sense of confinement and unease. And how about those hands? They feel so vulnerable and exposed. Kirchner wasn’t just representing what he saw, he was conveying the emotional intensity of modern life, a feeling shared by other Expressionist artists like Munch. What do you think? Artists are in an ongoing dialogue, constantly influencing each other's work.