Zwei tanzende nackte Frauen c. 1933

This sketch of two dancing women was made by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, probably with ink on paper. The image is all about line, and what a line can do. I bet he was looking at Matisse. What can you say with the fewest marks possible? I imagine him working really fast, trying to capture the energy of the dancers, their movement and interaction. He's not trying to be realistic; it's more about getting the feeling. The lines are thin, almost delicate, but they also have a kind of urgency. Look at the way he suggests the curve of a hip or the angle of an arm with just a few strokes. It’s like he’s mapping out the space between them, the air they’re moving through. Kirchner is in conversation with all the artists who ever tried to capture the body in motion.