Ernst Kirchner was a German expressionist painter and printmaker, one of the founders of Die Brücke, a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20th-century art. At first Die Brücke oriented itself to artists from Late Impressionism. The discovery of the Fauves, South Seas' art and van Gogh led the painters to Expressionism. Kirchner was considered the group's leader and he recruited Max Pechstein and Emil Nolde to join the movement. It was Kirchner who introduced the group to Primitivism as manifested in the art of the South Seas. Beside Ernst Ludwig Kirchner also produced an extensive graphic work — wood cuts, lithographs and ink drawings: more than 2,000 prints, making him one of the most prolific printmakers of the period. In 1937 Nazis declared his art “degenerate” and confiscated 639 works from museums in Germany. In 1938, distraught over the Nazi denunciation of his work, he committed suicide.
