Group of trees c. 1913

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this sketch of a "Group of Trees" with graphite on paper, and just looking at it I can almost feel the graphite stick moving across the page. I wonder what it might have been like to stand where Kirchner stood, charcoal in hand, trying to capture the essence of the trees, the way they reach and sway, the light filtering through their branches. I imagine him squinting, tilting his head, making marks, and then erasing some and making new ones. The rapid strokes, the layered lines, and the smudged areas tell us that he’s using the pencil to find the forms and volumes. Kirchner’s not trying to copy nature. Instead, the drawing feels like a record of his looking, his thinking, and his feeling, all translated into this energetic and evocative composition. What I see in the image reminds me a little of Van Gogh's drawings. So many artists in conversation with each other across time!