Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and one of the founders of the artists group Die Brcke or The Bridge, a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20thcentury art. He volunteered for army service in the First World War, but soon suffered a breakdown and was discharged. In 1933, his work was branded as degenerate by the Nazis and in 1937 over 600 of his works were sold or destroyed. In 1938 he committed suicide by gunshot.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was born in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria. His parents were of Prussian descent and his mother was a descendent of the Huguenots, a fact to which Kirchner often referred. As Kirchners father searched for a job, the family moved frequently and Kirchner attended schools in Frankfurt and Perlen until his father earned the position of Professor of Paper Sciences at the college of technology in Chemnitz, where Kirchner attended secondary school. Although Kirchners parents encouraged his artistic career they also wanted him to complete his formal education so in 1901, he began studying architecture at the Knigliche Technische Hochschule of Dresden. The institution provided a wide range of studies in addition to architecture, such as freehand drawing, perspective drawing and the historical study of art. He became close friends there with Fritz Bleyl, whom he met during the first term. They discussed art together and also studied nature, having a radical outlook in common. Kirc
Source: Wikipedia