Interior with Two Women at a Table

Kirchner was a leading figure of the Brücke (Bridge) group of German Expressionist artists. He considered drawing the medium that best expressed his conception of art as a direct, spontaneous experience. This drawing exemplifies the abbreviated style that he developed at the end of his Dresden period (the group relocated to Berlin in 1911). The fluid lines are reminiscent of turn-of-the-century Jugendstil, in contrast to the angular shapes that would become the hallmark of Kirchner's style in the following years. The hastily sketched figures and awkward perspective convey the directness that he was striving to achieve. The domestic scene, which has the intimate quality of a Vuillard or a Bonnard, appears to have been quickly executed on the spot in Otto Mueller's living room (recognizable from another drawing) in Berlin.