Dancing Couple in the Snow [reverse]

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

National Gallery of Art

A man and woman with pale, pink-colored skin hold hands and dance in this stylized, abstracted vertical painting. The woman’s breasts are exposed, and a single teal-green cloth edged in sapphire blue appears to encase both of their torsos. The man is behind the woman just to our left, and he looks down at her. Her shoulders face us, but she looks back at him, both in profile. Their faces are each painted with one or two strokes each for eyebrows, eyes, lips, and, for the man, a nose. Their hands are lifted and joined, blending into single forms, and the woman takes a wide step to our left. Their bodies are outlined with maroon red, black, or slate blue. The background is ice blue interspersed with angular, tent-like forms painted in royal blue, pale blue, and maroon. The frame is shown and reveals that the painting was done on the back of a stretched canvas. A label affixed to the top rail reads “Nachl. E.L. Kirchner TA/BH 19.”