German artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is known for his intense and powerful artwork. He created paintings and prints taking inspiration from his emotional perspective of the world. In 1905, he founded Die Brücke, a group of like-minded artists dedicated to creating art free from traditional boundaries. Two Women In The Street is a piece from 1914 that reflects the group’s style of painting. This artwork utilizes intense colors and dynamic brushwork to capture the emotion in an abstract setting.
Two Women In The Street displays two women walking side by side with their backs turned to the viewer. Their clothing is bright, contrasting against the muted background and lending movement to the painting. The motion continues across the figures and overlaps them, reflecting their relatedness in this particular scene. Kirchner expertly draws on symbolism as we are able to observe these women at a single moment in time yet sense a deep narrative lying beneath them.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s artwork challenges viewers to experience emotion in abstract form while interpreting its meaning through personal interpretation. His iconic work also serves as a reminder of German expressionism and of his place amongst many influential German creators who shaped modern-day art history.
Have you ever been to an art gallery and stared at a piece of artwork, marvelling at its beauty, but unsure how to explain why it’s special? Chances are, you’ve experienced something similar when viewing artwork in a museum or online. Knowing how to analyse and describe pieces of artwork can enhance your experience as well as increase your appreciation for the complexities of modern art.
Herein lies the importance of understanding and describing the various features that make up each piece. A key tool in this process is called ‘artwork description and analysis’, which involves thoroughly researching the artwork – its style, movements, time period – along with exploring any intriguing motivations behind it. This comprehensive approach will allow readers to gain insight into a greater context when examining works by various artists such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Ed Kienholz, Anselm Kiefer ,and John Frederick Kensett.
In this article we’ll take an analytic journey through some of these artist’s most renowned works; discovering their shock value (as is often attributed to Ed Kienholz’ work), their influence on society (exampled by Anselm Kiefer), or impact on trends at other points in time (evident in Kirchner’s Self-Portrait With Model). Moreover we’ll present guidelines for further analysis so that you can learn more about artworks around the world!
