The world-famous painter and graphic artist Erich Heckel counts among the founding members of the artist group "Die Brücke" [The Bridge] and is regarded one of the luminaries of Expressionism. His sensitive, contemplative and gentle nature, which becomes particularly obvious in the renowned woodcut "Madonna von Ostende", earned him a reputation as the "lyricist" and "romanticist" among the German Expressionist.
Besides painting, graphic art also plays an important role in the oeuvre of Erich Heckel. Next to woodcuts he also made outstanding hand-proof lithographic prints. Erich Heckel's style, which started out in a soft and flowing duct, developed towards a woodcut-like reduction as of around 1910; his later works are dominated by calmness and inwardness. Landscapes, nudes and portraits make for the thematic focal points in the work of Erich Heckel.
Numerous exhibitions showed the art of Erich Heckel, his works are in possession of many renowned museums, such as the 'Brücke Museum' in Berlin or the New York Museum of Modern Art.