Die Brücke

Die Brücke (The Bridge) was a group of expressionist artists formed in Dresden in 1905. Four Jugendstil architecture students led by Hermann Obrist – Fritz Bleyl (1880-1966), Erich Heckel (1883-1970), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884-1976) decided to devote themselves to painting. They formed an exhibiting group which lasted until 1913.

Although they were named for a passage in Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra that spoke of humanity's potential to be the evolutionary "bridge" to a more perfect future (Übermensch), Die Brücke's members instead aimed to make a 'bridge' between traditional neo-romantic German painting and modern expressionist painting.

Their style was a good example of expressionist primitivism – purposefully simple and direct and also quite focused on the young female nude.