Kirchner stands in uniform, one hand severed, a nude model behind him. In reality, his hand was not amputated. The wound is symbolic, psychological. War has cut the artist from his own ability to make, desire, and live whole. The painting is fear made brutally visible.
Oil on canvas with harsh color, angular form, and deliberately raw handling.
The severed hand represents artistic impotence and trauma. The uniform marks the violence of military identity imposed on the self.
Kirchner suffered a breakdown during World War I training and was discharged.
“A painter paints the appearance of things, not their objective correctness.”
The work became a major image of war trauma before the language of modern PTSD existed.
What did this stir in you?