Liegende (Die Irren III) (Reclining Figure [The Mad III]) (headpiece, page 27) from Georg Heym: Umbra Vitae (Georg Heym: The Shadow of Life)
![Liegende (Die Irren III) (Reclining Figure [The Mad III]) (headpiece, page 27) from Georg Heym: Umbra Vitae (Georg Heym: The Shadow of Life) by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/nga/thumb/liegende-die-irren-iii-reclining-figure-the-mad-nga-227777.webp)
Medium
woodcut from a bound volume with 50 woodcuts (including cover and front and back endpapers) on wove paper
Dimensions
book: 23.8 × 16.5 × 1.2 cm (9 3/8 × 6 1/2 × 1/2 in.)
Classification
Volume
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen
Accession Number
2012.92.41.21
Art Historical Context
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, a leading figure in German Expressionism and co-founder of the Die Brücke group, created *Liegende (Die Irren III)* in 1924 as a woodcut headpiece for page 27 of *Georg Heym: Umbrae* (The Shadow of Life). This image is part of a bound volume of 50 woodcuts—including covers and endpapers—illustrating Heym's posthumous collection of dark, visionary poems. Heym, a promising Expressionist poet who drowned tragically at age 24 in 1912, explored themes of madness, decay, and existential dread, which Kirchner vividly captured through his stark, angular forms. Kirchner's woodcu...
About the Artist
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1880–1938
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was born on May 6, 1880, in Aschaffenburg, Germany, to parents Ernst and Maria Kirchner, part of a family of Prussian descent that frequently relocated due to his father's career as a chemical technician. After early schooling in various towns, he studied architecture at the Königliche Technische Hochschule (Technical University) in Dresden from 1901 to 1905, taking courses i...