Zwei sitzende Frauen, eine davon als Akt c. 1915

This is Zwei sitzende Frauen, eine davon als Akt, or Two Seated Women, One Nude, made with ink on paper by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. It's all about the scratchy lines, like he's feeling his way through the forms, not trying to pretty them up. The ink is super direct, so you see every wobble, every hesitation, every place where the pen lifted off the page. Look at the face of the figure on the right, the way those dark, scribbled lines stand in for eyes. And the hands of the other figure! They're almost like claws, but so full of life. It's not about perfect rendering; it's about capturing a feeling, an energy. That kind of immediacy makes me think of other expressionist artists, like maybe Egon Schiele. They all seem to be chasing something raw, something honest, in their work. Something that feels a bit like the opposite of 'finished' if you know what I mean. It makes you wonder, what is 'finished' anyway?