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

This image, made by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, shows Peter Schlemihl meeting his shadow. It's a print, so the colors are laid down in blocks; it's all about the process. You can see how the colors don't quite line up perfectly, and that's where the image comes to life. Look at the way he's used green and black to create this looming figure of the shadow. It's really heavy, that shadow! And then, next to it, Schlemihl is this explosion of blues and reds, almost like he's being torn apart. There's this red gash running down his side, a raw, vulnerable mark. Kirchner was part of Die Brücke, a group of German Expressionists who were super into using color and form to express intense emotions. His work reminds me a little of Munch, especially in how he uses these skewed perspectives and jarring colors to convey the inner turmoil of his figures. It's not about capturing reality, it's about feeling it.