In the Open Air: Living and Working in Harmony with Nature

Faced with rapidly advancing urbanization and driven by a shared longing for a simpler, more peaceful life, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and his fellow artists from “Die Brücke” were often drawn to the countryside. From 1909 to 1911, E. L. Kirchner, Hermann Max Pechstein, and Erich Heckel frequently spent the summer days at the Moritzburg Ponds near Dresden; Schmidt-Rottluff would occasionally join them. Here, the artists could live out their dream of harmony between life and art—a life in touch with nature and a sense of primal simplicity. They enjoyed a simpler life, went swimming naked with their models, and painted and sketched. Because of their radical innovation and playful lightness, the works created during these visits are considered the pinnacle of the group’s oeuvre. The color lithograph “Picnic of the Bathers” also stems from these memorable summer months at the Moritzburg Ponds. Numerous sketches created outdoors were then refined into paintings and prints in the studio. For example, Kirchner likely captured the girls playing on the Elbe quay in several quick drawings, transferring the scene directly onto paper, then later refining the motif and transforming it into an exceptionally charming, dynamic color lithograph.

Later, E. L. Kirchner and his former artist colleagues from the “Brücke” group—which disbanded in 1913—frequently drew in the North Sea and, in particular, along the Baltic Sea coast during the summer months. They escaped the city and found their personal retreats. Kirchner initially favored the Baltic island of Fehmarn and, after the end of World War I, moved to Davos with his partner, where they settled in the secluded mountain world of the Swiss Alps; Karl Schmidt-Rottluff frequently stayed in Jershöft on the Baltic Sea, at Lake Leba, or in Ticino; Erich Heckel traveled through Italy, France, Switzerland, and numerous other European countries, and otherwise retreated to the Baltic Sea, the Flensburg Fjord, and Lake Constance.

The bustling activity of Dresden and metropolitan Berlin also found entrance into their respective works. Yet, rural life, with its entirely different rhythm, and the harmony between humanity and nature not only offer restorative tranquility and provide much-needed recreation, but also prove to be an important—and in some cases even the most significant—source of inspiration, giving rise to an abundance of new ideas, artistic achievements, and fascinating works of art that have left a lasting mark on art history and continue to influence it to this day. [CH]