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Nude Girl Lying on a Sofa

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

1905

ink

From the collection of National Gallery of Art

Early Modern Nude

Dominant colour

Nude Girl Lying on a Sofa is a 1905 ink by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, held at National Gallery of Art.

Who painted this?: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
When & what style?: 1905
Where can I see it?: National Gallery of Art

About this work

This image shows a simple black-and-white scene. A girl lies on her side on a sofa, her head resting on one hand. The sofa has a patterned fabric with odd, angular shapes. Above her, a curtain hangs in a window, and outside, a tree branch stretches in. The artist used only two colors—black ink and the off-white paper—to create the whole scene. The lines are bold and flat, with no shading to show depth. If you like this style, look up woodcut to see how it works.