Couple 1908

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner drew this “Couple” with crayons. It’s all zig-zaggy lines and colours that are somehow both clashing and working together—reds, yellows, greens, and blues. It’s like the artist was thinking aloud with colour, trying to work out the relationship between these two figures. I can almost feel Kirchner moving around the page, making these marks, changing his mind, layering one colour over another. What did he want to capture? The intimacy, the tension, the awkwardness of being together? You can see how the marks vibrate. It reminds me a little of Matisse, but with a more anxious energy. I think it’s because the gestures, the crayon lines, are hesitant, scratchy, like he’s not quite sure what he’s seeing. But that’s what makes it interesting, right? It’s not a perfect representation. It’s a feeling, an impression, a moment of connection captured in colour and line.