A lecture by Elena Galinskaya
The formation of the “Die Brücke” (The Bridge) group in Dresden in 1905 was a seminal event in the history of 20th-century art and marked the beginning of the Expressionism movement. This group, which included artists such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Emil Nolde, sought to rebel against established academic norms and create art that would express their inner feelings and emotions in a direct and intense way.
The founder, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, was one of the most important painters of German Expressionism and a representative figure of the “Lost Generation” of artists. He was born in 1880 and was exposed to the political and social turmoil that swept Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Kirchner experienced World War I, which deeply influenced his work. After the war, he struggled with depression and anxiety, which were reflected in his works.
Kirchner’s most important and exciting works reflect the feverish pace of bohemian and hedonistic Berlin and are integrated into the spirit of the Weimar Republic – its decadent and destructive atmosphere, as well as the unique romance, familiar to us from the musical “Cabaret”. He depicted the turbulent street life, the lonely and alienated people, and the feeling of impending doom.
In the 1920s, Kirchner gained publicity and official recognition, but eventually his works were included in the list of “degenerate art” of the Third Reich. The Nazi regime saw Expressionist art as an expression of deviation and subversion, and persecuted the artists who created it. When Kirchner felt that his path had come to an end, he took his own life in 1938.
After the lecture, a guided tour at the museum will be held – in Russian.
