Kirchner and the Berlin Street

Aug 3–Nov 10, 2008

MoMA

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Street, Berlin (Straße, Berlin). 1913. Oil on canvas, 47 1/2 × 35 7/8″ (120.6 × 91.1 cm). The Museum of Modern Art. Purchase. © 2008 Ingeborg and Dr. Wolfgang Henze-Ketterer, Wichtrach/Bern
  • MoMA, Floor 3, Exhibition Galleries Special Exhibitions Gallery

This exhibition brings together German Expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s renowned Street Scenes series, created between 1913 and 1915. Considered by many to be the highpoint of Kirchner’s career as a whole, this series of seven paintings is showcased with sixty related prints and drawings. This series dates from Kirchner’s Berlin period, when the effect of life in the metropolis brought about a dramatic change in his work. Known as the co-founder of the early Expressionist group Brücke, established in Dresden in 1905, Kirchner moved to Berlin in 1911. Here his sense of rebellion against the confining principles of academic painting and the stifling rules of bourgeois society took a new turn, as the charged atmosphere and energy of the city was felt in an expression of acute perspectives, jagged strokes, dense angular forms, and caustic color. The street life in Berlin, in particular the familiar presence of prostitutes, identified by their elaborate plumed hats, captured Kirchner’s eye and inspired this spectacular series. Shown together for the first time in New York, these works exude the vitality, decadence, and underlying mood of imminent danger that characterized Berlin on the eve of World War I.

Organized by Deborah Wye, The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Chief Curator of Prints and Illustrated Books, The Museum of Modern Art.

The exhibition is made possible by Mrs. Stephen M. Kellen and by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III.

Major support is provided by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

The symposium is supported by The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.

Publications

  • Kirchner and the Berlin Street Exhibition catalogue, Hardcover, 138 pages
  • Press release 5 pages

Artist

Installation images

How we identified these works

In 2018–19, MoMA collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a project using machine learning to identify artworks in installation photos. That project has concluded, and works are now being identified by MoMA staff.

If you notice an error, please contact us at [email protected].

Licensing

If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit https://www.moma.org/research/circulating-film.

If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].

Feedback

This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].