Stilleben mit Enzian und Türkenbund 1920

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this watercolour, Still Life with Gentian and Turk's Cap Lilies, at some point in his life. You can see how Kirchner, like a lot of painters, is building up the forms through color. Those blues and reds give the composition its thrust. The brushwork is rapid, sure. A kind of shorthand. What was Kirchner thinking when he made this? Perhaps he needed to get something down quickly, seize upon it before it withered. It’s interesting how the shapes almost dissolve into each other: the lilies echo the surrounding forms, blurring the distinction between the object and the ground. I wonder if Kirchner looked at the work of Munch, known for his use of line and color to convey psychological states. But Kirchner brings his own intensity and jaggedness. Painters are in a long, ongoing conversation. We learn from and respond to each other across time, inspiring each other. It’s like a big, messy, beautiful game of telephone.