Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The Murderer (Der Mörder). 1914

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner The Murderer (Der Mörder) 1914

  • Not on view

This print was inspired by Emile Zola's 1890 novel La Bête humaine (The human beast), about a railroad engine driver compelled to murder the women he finds sexually attractive. Kirchner used slashing, frenzied lines to depict the heinous killings, which he may have implicitly linked to sensationalized crimes of his own day. Blood oozing from the victim’s abdomen matches the color of the curtains and rug that tightly enclose the room.

Gallery label from German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse, March 27–July 11, 2011.
Medium
Lithograph
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 19 3/4 x 23 7/16" (50.1 x 59.5 cm); sheet: 19 3/4 x 25 11/16" (50.1 x 65.2 cm)
Publisher
unpublished
Printer
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Berlin
Edition
7 known impressions; plus 1 known impression of state I
Credit
Purchase
Object number
557.1951
Department
Drawings and Prints

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Sold through Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett, Stuttgart, to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1951

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