EDVARD MUNCH (1863–1944) and ERNST LUDWIG KIRCHNER (1880–1938) met only once, and even then just briefly. Both were included in a 1912 exhibition of modernist artists held in Cologne, Germany. While Munch had his own very large room and was presented as a pioneer alongside Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne, only two works by Kirchner were included in a display by members of the Expressionist group “Die Brücke”. By chance, Munch and Kirchner met in the galleries and took a stroll together. Though they came to share friends, dealers, and patrons, this was their first and last amicable encounter. The younger and extremely ambitious Kirchner repeatedly tried to distance himself from Munch, declaring, “He is the end, I am the beginning.”
Kirchner became acquainted with Munch’s works in 1906 at the latest, a year after the founding of the ‘Brücke’ in Dresden. Munch had presented twenty paintings there from 11 to 25 February presented twenty paintings at the ‘Sächsischer Kunstverein’. With a limited selection of some of his major works, ‘Munch’s expressive colouring was impressively conveyed’. The works from the turn of the century predominated, which were characterised by a strong decorative use of colour, lines and surfaces, a striving for monumentality and colouring.
At that time, there were numerous opportunities in Germany for the young Kirchner to have seen Munch’s works. But Stanislaw Przybyszewski’s extensive monograph on Munch, published in 1894, was also well known and available, as were illustrations of works in art magazines. As a result, the ‘Brücke’ tried to make contact with Munch in order to invite him to participate in an exhibition.
The paintings of the Fauvists and German Expressionists soon found expression in Munch’s works as well. This is evidenced, among other things, by his experiments with painting styles during his stay at the seaside resort of Warnemünde in 1907 and 1908, which led to particularly striking stylistic changes in his paintings. His works were expressively characterised by strong colouring and direct application of paint.
As one of Schiefler’s diary entries shows, Munch’s reaction to the works of the young expressionists could sometimes be fierce:
‘When Munch is with us, I unpack a package of lithographs that Schmidt-Rottluff sent to me for inspection. As he looks at the sheets, he says: ‘He’s crazy.’ But then he immediately adds: “Now I’m saying the same thing about him that the others always said about me. God help us, we’re heading for difficult times ahead of us”. But he thinks that the distribution of black and white is very good.’ Munch was shocked by the radical nature of the works, but was interested in them. Schiefler reported Munch’s almost shocking reaction to Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and continues:
‘The following day he said that he had been thinking about the lithographs the whole time, that there was something very strange about them and that he was very keen to see more of them.’ Schmidt-Rottluff was delighted and wrote:
‘I have a great deal of respect for Munch.’
Munch also wrote to Schiefler on 9 May 1908, outlining his great interest in this avant-garde art movement:
‘It was with great joy that I read in the Norwegian newspapers about the ‘Brücke’ exhibition – / – I would be very happy to meet the painters one day – The exhibition will do very well in Kristiania and is causing a great stir’.
Although Munch’s interest in the works of the ‘Brücke’ artists was obvious, participation in one of their exhibitions was by no means his aim or of particular interest to the Norwegian. On the one hand, Munch was always sceptical of artistic group formation, and on the other hand, as an increasingly recognised artistic personality, he could hardly gain anything from it, but would rather have become the figurehead of the exhibition.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was, as always, torn and could not refrain from distancing himself:
‘My work, my whole path, my character is the strict opposite of Munch’s. He is the end, I am a beginning… My pictures, especially the early ones, exude joie de vivre and lust, not the melancholy and decadence of Munch’s.’
‘I do not agree with you on the appreciation of Munch, but that is not the point. In any case, there can be no question of a relationship in any sense other than the very general one, that two people live in the same era.’ (Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in a letter to Gustav Schiefler).
August Macke expressed the great respect that Munch was shown in a letter to the artist: ‘I believe it gives you great joy to know, that today a very large number of the youngest and most vibrant artists in our country look at your work with great reverence. In the face of the great conflicts that now exist in our country, you stand above the parties. We “young people” are taking up your cause.’
On 12 December 1938, Erich Heckel sent a greeting to the unapproachable, lonely man at Ekely: ‘Today, on your 75th birthday, I remember you with my warmest wishes for you and your work, which, in its intensity and humanity, will always be admirable and meaningful to me. With admiration, Erich Heckel.’
The programme of the expressionist artists‘ group “Die Brücke” (The Bridge) on a woodcut by Kirchner from 1906:
„Mit dem Glauben an Entwicklung, an eine neue Generation der Schaffenden wie der Genießenden rufen wir alle Jugend zusammen, und als Jugend, die die Zukunft trägt, wollen wir uns Arm- und Lebensfreiheit verschaffen gegenüber den wohlangesessenen älteren Kräften. Jeder gehört zu uns, der unmittelbar und unverfälscht wiedergibt, was ihn zum Schaffen drängt.“
‘With faith in development, in a new generation of creators and connoisseurs, we call together all youth, and as the youth that carries the future, we want to gain freedom of expression and life in the face of the well-established older forces. Everyone who directly and authentically reproduces what drives them to create belongs to us.’