Christian Rohlfs

1849 — 1938

Christian Rohlfs was a pioneering German Expressionist painter and printmaker. Rohlfs' earlier artistic styles included Naturalism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism - before he came into contact with the work of Vincent van Gogh. This had a lasting influence on his technique for the rest of his career. As a contemporary of the Expressionist group "Die Brücke", Rohlfs' paintings and woodcuts cover a wide range of subjects, including landscapes, portraits, still lifes and street scenes. Around 1900 he began painting together with Emil Nolde. The spontaneous and emotional quality of his friend's works strongly influenced him.

Christian Rohlf's paintings are now in numerous institutions around the world - including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.