Welt - Bühne - Traum

In Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's studio scene Bathers in a Room, the Saarlandmuseum possesses a key work of German Expressionism. The theme of the painting is Kirchner's live-work space in Dresden from 1909-11. Here, during the early years of the artists' collective Die Bru¨cke, a universe was created that considered itself a radical alternative to the bourgeois norms of Wilhelmine-era society. Depicted in countless paintings, drawings, and photographs, the studio resembles a stage for the creation of the artist's own art and life, propagating the ideal of an original, "unadulterated" existence. Central themes are the nude body liberated from bourgeois constraints and the appropriation of motifs from Oceanic and African art. Hence, the show and the book reflect upon Die Bru¨cke's problematic depictions of people outside of Europe, against the backdrop of imperial colonialism's racist categorizations. Featuring around 110 works of art by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl Schmitt-Rottluff, Max Pechstein, and others.