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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Dairymaid with Cow
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| Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1880–1938 Dairymaid with Cow (1918) Watercolour on paper 22.5 x 24 cm Acquired by Bayer in 1964 © by Ingeborg & Dr. Wolfgang Henze-Ketterer, Wichtrach/Bern |
In 1911 Kirchner moved to Berlin. There, the self-taught artist hit his first creative peak with Expressionist work. Two years later, Die Brücke broke up following a dispute between Kirchner and the other members.
When World War I broke out, Kirchner volunteered for military service. However, the barrack-square drills caused him so much anguish that he had a nervous breakdown. With the financial support of admirers of his art, he retreated into clinics. Only after moving to Davos in Switzerland did he begin to recover. A second artistic heyday followed.
In Nazi Germany, Kirchner’s pictures were deemed degenerate. Vilification in his homeland and a dependency on medication that he never fully overcame plunged him into a second major crisis. He committed suicide in 1938.
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Programme 2008/09
