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Wrestlers in a Circus
About the Artwork
Locked in a dangerous embrace, beefy wrestlers writhe on a brightly colored mat. Famous for his scenes of urban life, Kirchner uses loose brushstrokes to capture the blur of bodies in motion. Imagine watching this intense match, surrounded by screaming spectators.
Inscriptions
signed lower left: E. L. Kirchner.
Exhibition history
Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-October 16, 1966). Brucke Artists 1905 - 1910. Brücke-Museum Berlin, Berlin (Dahlem), Germany (organizer) (September 8-October 28, 1973).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (German, 1880–1938)
- Date
- 1909
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 107.5 x 121 x 7 cm (42 5/16 x 47 5/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 80.5 x 94 cm (31 11/16 x 37 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art and Bequest of William R. Valentiner
- Accession no.
- 1966.49
Provenance
1938-1957: Artist’s estate, sold to Grosshennig Gallery 1957: (Galerie Grosshennig, Düsseldorf, Germany, sold to Otto Gerson Gallery) 1957 - by 1960: (Otto Gerson Gallery, New York, lent to Grosshennig Gallery on commission) By 1960-1963: (Galerie Grosshennig, Düsseldorf, Germany, returned unsold to Marlborough-Gerson Gallery) 1963-1964: (Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, sold to Allan Frumkin) 1964-1966: (Allan Frumkin Gallery, New York, NY, sold to E.V. Thaw) 1966: (E. V. Thaw, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1966-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
More by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00000274
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