Half-naked woman

Pechstein is one of the leaders of German Expressionism. In particular, he is an representative of the Die Brücke group, or "The Bridge", which includes other celebrated masters such as Kirchner and Heckel. It was this group who, while still young, created a fundamental stylistic break that, incorporating the works of Van Gogh and Gauguin, first introduced a new expressionist way of conceiving art in Germany and then in Europe: painting with strong tones, which in part refer to African and oceanic suggestions, exhibiting provocative nudes and figures that were appear roughly sketched, but are in reality very intense. Pechstein was the only one of the group with a true scholastic education. He specialized above all in scenes of young women with African or Asian traits, often immersed in large, resplendent, colorful landscapes. This work shows us a half-naked girl with a dry and attractive body, portrayed in a reddish interior. The artist's brush embellishes some details with green and blue highlights. Thus appears a character with spontaneous sensuality, halfway between the Polynesians of Gauguin and a female protagonist of modern Germany. Needless to say, Pechstein and his friends were ensnared in the great bonfire of the arts ordered by Hitler, who led this nefarious mission with which he intended to destroy so-called degenerate art.