Still Life with Tulips and Oranges 

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner created this still life painting of tulips and oranges with oil on canvas. Kirchner was a German expressionist painter, and as such he was interested in the social role of the artist. German expressionists broke from academic and impressionist traditions and favored directness and immediacy in their work. They favored primitive and folk art as sources and inspiration. In this painting, Kirchner used non-naturalistic colors and bold, visible brushstrokes. The image is not about the objects in the painting, but rather the artist’s subjective experience of them. Expressionism was in part a reaction to increasing industrialization, urbanization, and alienation. The artist saw himself as a visionary who could awaken society by offering a new way of seeing. Art historians consult manifestos, letters, diaries, and reviews from the period to better understand the meaning of works like this one. As such we see how the artist responded to and shaped the cultural values of his time.