Men with Wheelbarrows 1927

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this watercolour, Men with Wheelbarrows, and it's all about the process, you can see that in the immediacy of the mark making. The colours aren't trying to trick you into thinking you're looking at reality; they're putting on a show. See how the brushstrokes build up? The thin washes let the white of the paper shine through, creating this sense of light and movement. There's this great dark slash of paint at the bottom left that could be anything, grass, shadow, or just pure abstract energy. It's so gestural; you can almost feel him making the mark. It reminds me a little of Emil Nolde, another Expressionist, in that the physical act of painting feels just as important as whatever's being depicted. It's like they're both saying, "Hey, this is paint, and I'm gonna use it!" And that's the beauty of art: it doesn't have to be one thing or another; it can be everything all at once.