Wrestlers in a Circus

1909

Wrestlers in a Circus, 1909. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (German, 1880–1938). Oil on canvas; framed: 107.5 x 121 x 7 cm (42 5/16 x 47 5/8 x 2 3/4 in.); unframed: 80.5 x 94 cm (31 11/16 x 37 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art and Bequest of William R. Valentiner 1966.49 Locked in a dangerous embrace, beefy wrestlers writhe on a brightly colored mat. Famous for his scenes of urban life, Kirchner uses loose brushstrokes to capture the blur of bodies in motion. Imagine watching this intense match, surrounded by screaming spectators. During the 1930s, 639 works by Kirchner were removed from German museums and either destroyed or sold to foreign collectors and museums. The year after the Nazis organized the Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich, Kirchner committed suicide.