Two Nudes on a Bed c. 1906

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner made this drawing, Two Nudes on a Bed, with confident black strokes on a tan ground. I imagine him thinking and rethinking, the brush dancing with the push-pull of observation. The bodies are simplified, but still there, hanging out on that bed. The stark contrasts, that stark black, it's almost like a print. I think he's looking at the earlier German Expressionists and woodcuts, while doing his own version, his own handwriting. What’s so cool is how the space is defined, with just a few dark marks and by letting the ground of the paper do the work. It's a way of seeing. A way of feeling, really. Artists are always responding to each other, taking notes, pushing back. It's not just about what you see but how you feel when you make a mark. That’s how paintings continue to converse with us.