Artwork
Street, Berlin

Street, Berlin is an oil painting by the German Expressionist artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. It dates from 1913 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Street, Berlin is a painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. It's an oil painting created in 1913.
At that time, Kirchner was interested in painting street scenes. He wanted to show the chaos of city life and how men and women interacted with each other.
You can learn more about the artist's style and techniques by looking up Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.
Overview
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s 1913 oil on canvas titled “Street, Berlin” captures a bustling urban thoroughfare in the German capital. Executed just before the First World War, the work belongs to a series of cityscapes in which the artist explored the energetic pulse of modern life through vivid color and dynamic composition.
Subject & Meaning
The painting depicts a crowded street populated by men and women whose hurried movements convey the disorder and anonymity of early‑twentieth‑century Berlin. Kirchner emphasizes the interaction between genders, suggesting both the social proximity and the psychological distance that characterized the metropolis’s rapid growth.
Technique & Style
Kirchner employs thick, expressive brushwork and a saturated palette typical of his early expressionist phase. The flattened perspective and angular forms heighten the sense of movement, while the juxtaposition of bright hues against darker tones underscores the tension between vitality and alienation in the urban environment.
History & Provenance
Created in 1913, “Street, Berlin” was painted during Kirchner’s most productive period of street‑scene work, preceding his conscription in World War I. The canvas later entered private collections before being acquired by a public institution, where it remains part of the narrative of German expressionism.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (6 May 1880 – 15 June 1938) was a German expressionist painter and printmaker.
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