Women at a Table in a Room 1920

Here's a print of a few ladies sat around a table in a room, made by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The printmaking is like a fever dream, all scratchy lines, like he’s trying to carve his way out of the scene. It’s all about the surface, that dense network of marks. Look closely, and you can see how each line vibrates against the others, creating this nervous energy. The table itself is a jumble of shapes and patterns, like a puzzle that never quite comes together. Kirchner isn’t just showing us a group of women, he’s giving us a glimpse into the fractured, chaotic world they inhabit. The face of the woman on the right feels particularly haunting. I can see echoes of Edvard Munch in this work. It speaks to the way that we are all constantly riffing off each other, sharing ideas, and pushing each other to see the world in new ways. Art isn’t about answers, it’s about asking questions.