Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

About this Work

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was the leading member of the Expressionist group Brücke (Bridge), which was active in Dresden from 1905 to 1911, and then in Berlin until 1913. The Expressionists developed a style characterized by spontaneous brushwork, vivid colors, and direct observation of their surroundings. Work by Brücke artists often addressed a perceived dichotomy between (stressful) urban and (peaceful) rural life in the early twentieth century. By contrast, this composition depicts the River Elbe—in a threatening acid green—as mightier than the diminutive Dresden cityscape beyond. Kirchner extensively reworked this painting after World War I, adding the figure of the boatman and making several changes to the background.