Brücke, Die

Brücke, Die (German, “The Bridge”), group of German Expressionist artists, founded in Dresden in 1905, whose work marked the beginning of modern art in Germany. The principal members were the architectural student Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, in whose studio they regularly gathered, and his friends Erich Heckel, Fritz Bleyl, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and, later, Emil Nolde and Max Pechstein.

Rejecting academic tradition, realism, and Impressionism, the members of Die Brücke drew inspiration from German medieval and Renaissance art, Art Nouveau, primitive art, and the work of the French Post-Impressionists van Gogh, Gauguin, and the Fauves. Their name symbolized their bridge of common interests and their link to the future. Most of Die Brücke were untrained as artists, but the harsh colours and distorted shapes in their work successfully expressed their strong feelings and vivid imaginations. The dramatic contrasts of black and white in their woodcuts, a medium they revived, were especially effective. The group moved to Berlin in 1910 and disbanded in controversy in 1913.