Häuser mit Allee 1910

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this watercolor, "Houses with Alley," and it's all about the power of suggestion. The palette is so restrained, mostly blues and greens, with just a hint of yellow, but the way he uses these colors, it feels like everything is humming with energy. Look at the way he’s put down the color with quick, fluid strokes, how the brush seems to dance across the paper. There’s a vulnerability in the thinness of the paint that feels really intimate. Especially that gorgeous green which looks like the suggestion of mountains in the background. It reminds me of the work of Emil Nolde. There's an openness to interpretation here, a sense that Kirchner is inviting us to co-create the image with him. It’s not about capturing a scene, but more about capturing a feeling, an emotional response to the world. It's a world, like painting, where meaning is never fixed, but always in motion.