Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte: Schlemihls Begegnung mit dem Schatten (Peter Schlemihl's Wondrous Story: Schlemihl's Encounter with His Shadow) 1915

This image by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is all jostling angles and potent blocks of color—it’s like the blocks are fighting to get out. You can almost see the artist in the thick of it, hacking away at the woodblock, trying to pin down this shadowy encounter. I wonder what it was like for Kirchner making this, caught between the need to tell a story and the raw urge to cut loose with those colors. There’s this tension between control and chaos, right? Like, he’s wrestling with the material itself, letting the grain of the wood and the bite of the blade dictate the form. That shadow figure looming so darkly makes me think about the Expressionists, always grappling with the hidden, the unseen. And isn’t that what art is all about? Making visible the things we can’t quite put our finger on. So, the next time you’re facing your own demons, maybe pick up a brush or a carving tool and see what shadows you can bring to life.