Alte Frau mit Jungen am Kaffeetisch c. 1917

Here's a rapid drawing of an old woman and a young person at a coffee table, sketched by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, probably in charcoal or ink. The scene explodes into being through short, sharp, agitated lines, like a burst of raw energy. I imagine Kirchner, seized by a vision, frantically trying to capture it on paper, the lines almost vibrating with emotion. What was he thinking? What was he feeling? Look at the way the faces are rendered – the old woman's is a mask of worry, the young person’s, wide-eyed, a little scared. The lines are restless, searching, as if he's trying to grasp something just beyond his reach. You see these kinds of lines in other expressionist works, and it’s like they’re all talking to each other, sharing secrets across time and space. It’s like Kirchner is saying, hey, life is messy, and art should be too. Let's embrace the chaos, the uncertainty, and see what happens.