Self Portrait as a Soldier – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

Self Portrait as a Soldier – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1915

One of the most shattering self-portraits in the history of modern art, this painting was made in 1915 after Kirchner suffered a complete psychological breakdown following his military service in World War I. He depicts himself in uniform, his right hand — his painting hand — severed at the wrist, a cigarette dangling from his lips, his gaze hollow and dissociated. Behind him, a nude model stands in the studio, the world of art now unreachable. The painting is a cry of despair and a meditation on the destruction of the creative self by war.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) was a founding member of Die Brücke (The Bridge), the German Expressionist group that sought to forge a new visual language of raw emotion, distortion, and psychological intensity. This work stands as one of the defining images of the trauma of the First World War and of Expressionism at its most unguarded.

• Artist: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938)
• Painted: 1915
• Style: German Expressionism, Die Brücke
• Medium: Museum-quality digital reproduction on Luster Premium Photo Paper
• Available in multiple sizes