Adam und Eva 1923

This is Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Adam and Eve, made with etching. The raw, scratchy lines really grab you, don't they? It’s all about the process, like Kirchner was thinking out loud with his tool. The way he's worked the plate, you can almost feel the tool biting into the metal. Look at how the lines build up around Adam's bent back, it's not just about showing form, it's about the energy of the moment. It’s heavy, almost claustrophobic. There's this real tension in the contrast between the etched lines and the bare paper, which makes the scene feel exposed, primal, like we're seeing something we shouldn’t. Kirchner reminds me a bit of Munch, but rougher, less polished. It’s like he's wrestling with the same anxieties, but instead of smoothing them out, he's laying them bare for us to see. And that's what makes it so compelling, you know?