Bern with Belltower 1935

Curator: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner created this oil on canvas work, "Bern with Belltower," in 1935. It currently resides at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Editor: My immediate impression is whimsical. The bright colors and almost childlike rendering give it a playful, slightly distorted feel, despite it being a recognizable cityscape. I want to touch it! Curator: Absolutely, Kirchner's Expressionist style uses color and form to convey emotional experience. He infuses this town square with a certain visual energy, and if you focus on the clock tower, it seems like the artist wanted to reflect more than literal time. Editor: It's clearly representational, but abstracted. What strikes me are the material choices—oil paint on canvas gives it a palpable texture, evidence of the artist's hand and choices in color layering and application. Do we know what paints he used and what their properties were, like pigment load? That color is so saturated! Curator: Interesting observation about the material qualities; however, I believe the clock with its parade of figures reflects time and the weight of history. The marionette-like figures adorning the building become more than ornamentation. It speaks to shared experience, collective memory even! Kirchner seemed constantly attuned to what haunted individuals. Editor: But that history and memory were crafted using available pigments! The intense pinks and blues must have been recently available to his studio! We can’t divorce cultural expression from the reality of the tools and ingredients available. Curator: A fair point. Without these pigments, it's unlikely that Kirchner could evoke a sense of anxiety. Even the clouds look almost oppressive, even foreboding in the piece. Editor: Indeed, and considering his place as a "degenerate" artist banned by the Nazi regime, access to resources became fraught with all kinds of political meaning as a painter trying to keep his practice afloat! This informs the color use of the scene itself. Curator: That history definitely permeates this work! Now I notice the people around the town are painted somewhat small, making the viewer loom over the inhabitants. It definitely evokes a unique feeling once one stops just enjoying the playful tones. Editor: It brings the labor behind the brushstrokes to the fore, so to speak! Curator: Perhaps then the playfulness, or even childlike appearance of the landscape, is the lasting impact of Kirchner reflecting his cultural context and his feelings toward that same history. Editor: The tension he faced undoubtedly manifests in every application of oil on that canvas. Food for thought indeed.