Fränzi in Front of Carved Chair

1910

Oil on canvas, 71 × 49.5 cm. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

A portrait of Fränzi, a young girl who lived in Friedrichstadt, a working-class part of Dresden, with her face painted a strong yellow-green. The museum ranks it as the strongest of his images of her.

Look behind her: the chair back is a carved wooden figure, most likely made by the artist.
Thin, quick strokes leave bare canvas showing at the edges and in the patterned dress.
A handmade studio object becomes part of the portrait, its carving framing the sitter's head, so craft and painting meet in one picture.
In 1910 a Heckel woodcut after one of Kirchner's images of her served as the cover image for the Brücke catalogue of a show at Galerie Arnold, Dresden.
The museum built a small focus exhibition around this painting in 1996–97.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain