Panama Girls

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner painted with harsh, bright colour, jagged outlines and angular figures, and he is one of the central names of German Expressionism. His subjects range from nudes and bathers to the crowded streets of Berlin and, later, the mountains of Switzerland. Born in Aschaffenburg, he studied architecture in Dresden, and there in 1905 he co-founded the artists’ group Die Brücke (The Bridge) with Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Fritz Bleyl. In 1911 he moved to Berlin, where he painted his famous street scenes of 1913 to 1915. From 1917 he lived near Davos, and the Alpine valleys, farmers and peaks became his main subjects. His work is in the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. In Davos and Hockey Players, look at how he flattens space and uses strong contrasts of colour instead of shading.