Sich waschende Frau c. 1910

This is a drawing called Sich waschende Frau, or Woman Washing Herself, by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and it's rendered with what looks like charcoal or pencil. Look at how the figure seems built from simple, economical lines, almost like a wireframe. There's a real sense of movement, isn't there? The energy in the lines that define the back and the leg, they remind me of my own process, where I'm trying to capture a feeling more than a literal representation. And notice the lines that suggest the basin, and the water, it's not about perfection. It’s about the gesture, the act of seeing and translating that onto the page, and the charcoal is so raw, so immediate. Kirchner’s drawing, like a conversation, invites us to participate in its unfolding. Like a dance with ambiguity, it is an echo of the artistic spirit—ever questioning, ever evolving.