Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

1880

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is born on May 6 in Aschaffenburg, the son of a paper chemist.

1901

Studies architecture at the Technical University in Dresden while attending a private art school.

1903/04

Studies at the Technical University in Munich.

1904

Return to Dresden. Acquaintance with architecture students Erich Heckel,

Fritz Bleyl and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff.

1905

Together they found the artists' association "Die Brücke".

1911

The Brücke artists move to Berlin. The world of the vaudeville and the circus

become new themes in Kirchner's painting and graphic art.

1913

First solo exhibitions at the Folkwang Museum (Hagen).

1915/16

Voluntary military service. After a physical and mental collapse, Kirchner goes to a sanatorium near Königstein (Taunus) for treatment.

1917

Moves to Davos. Kirchner paints over old pictures and pre-dates them,

in order to accentuate his art-historical position differently.

1921

Exhibition at the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin.

1923

Moves to a farmhouse in Frauenkirch-Wildboden near Davos.

1926

Suffers from depression and attacks of weakness.

1937

Solo exhibition at the Kunsthalle Basel and the Detroit Art Museum (USA). The National Socialists defame Kirchner as a "degenerate artist" and confiscate 639 of his works from German museums. 32 of his works are shown in the exhibition "Degenerate Art".

1938

June 15: Attacked by illness and despairing over the developments in Germany,

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner commits suicide in Frauenkirch-Wildboden.