Dancing Couple (Tanzpaar)

1907–1911

Summers at the Moritzburg lakes and on Fehmarn

From 1907 to 1911 Kirchner spent the summers with other Brücke members at the Moritzburg lakes and on the island of Fehmarn, to which he returned until 1914; in these years his work featured the female nude in natural settings.

October 1911

Moves to Berlin

In October 1911 Kirchner moved to Berlin; new themes entered his painting — life in the big city, its streets and architecture, the human types characteristic of the capital.

October 1911

Meets Erna Schilling

In the same month Kirchner met Erna Schilling, who later became his common-law wife.

1911–1912

The MIUM Institute with Pechstein

In 1911 in Berlin Kirchner and Max Pechstein founded a private painting school, the MIUM Institute (“Moderner Unterricht im Malen,” modern teaching of painting); it was not a success and closed the next year, the year Kirchner’s lifelong relationship with the dancer Erna Schilling began.