Steamer Landing in the Rain
ca. 1935
Kirchner captures a gloomy day at a steamboat landing with frantic, scratchy lines that feel almost like a nervous twitch. A tall blue signal post with two large black circles dominates the foreground, resembling a giant pair of sunglasses or staring eyes watching over a lonely figure huddled under a black umbrella. Created around 1935 during his self-imposed exile in Switzerland, this loose sketch reflects the anxiety of the era, as the Nazis had recently branded his work 'degenerate art.' The scribbled overhead wires and washing colors make the whole scene feel like a fleeting memory dissolving in the rain.