Bathers at Sea 1914

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner captured these bathers on canvas with oil paints. Kirchner was a German expressionist, and we might view this painting as a challenge to the conservative social norms of early 20th-century Germany. The bold colors and simplified forms reflect the influence of Expressionism, but they also speak to a rejection of academic art traditions. The painting offers an idealized vision of the body and of nature, but this naturalism is tempered with a modernist interest in abstraction. As such, it comments on the increasing alienation of modern life and the longing for a simpler, more authentic existence. Historical sources such as letters and diaries, as well as institutional records from galleries and museums, might help us better understand the painting's original reception and its place within the history of modern art.