Haus am Bahnhof

„Rhythm, the blaze of colors, that’s what is forever fascinating and concerning me“, that is how Schmidt-Rotluff himself describes his approach to art and its means of expression. In his work the portrayal of the subjective feeling transferred into colors and lines as individual forms of expression replaces a naturalistic manner of reproducing objects. The artist also conveys a stressed sensualism into his choice of subjects, he prefers nature, landscapes and rural settings, which can create and communicate deepest emotions for him. The oil painting „Am Bahnhof“, „At the station“depicts houses along a street which do not fit into a topographic setting. Objects near and far as well as dominating motifs such as houses and details are united in one level. Their forms are extremely contracted and simplified by means of the wavelike expressive brushwork. All components produce a pulsating picture of this street. A decisively individual coloring, hardened shapes and a dynamic stroke of the brush – these are the central features of German expressionism shared by all members of a group of artists named „Die Brücke“, „The Bridge“. It was founded in 1905 by Karl Schmidt-Rotluff, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner und Erich Heckel and existed until the dawn of World War II in 1913.