Vibrant Metropolis / Idyllic Nature

Berlin, an industrial centre with accelerating traffi c and a population of three million, acted as a cultural centre of gravity for the whole of Europe. It was a metropolis of the arts and of addictive pleasures, vibrating with challenging energy and challenged intellect. Kirchner contrasted all this with summers spent painting with concentrated productivity on the arcadian island of Fehmarn. In his art both places are linked by the pictorial substance of a form of expression which was in line with the times and also directed against all convention. A succinct selection of works and a series of essays by illustrious authors that focus on these pictures make this decisive phase in Kirchner’s oeuvre come alive in this volume.