Karl Schmidt-Rottluff counts among the most prominent representatives of German Expressionism. Together with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel and Fritz Bleyl, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff founded the influential artist group "Brücke" [Bridge] in Dresden in 1924. The style that was soon to become characteristic of the "Brücke" also made works by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff unmuistakable master pieces: The color became a means to express inner perception on the canvas in a broad duct, the depicted objects and figures were simplified after the model of Oceanic Art. Karl Schmidt-Rottluff's oeuvre is dominated by landscape impressions that the artist powerfully composed in a rich coloring and a flowing duct.
After those terrible years during which Karl Schmidt-Rottluff's art was defamed as 'degenerate' by the National Socialist, the artist again made Berlin his domain as of 1947, where he taught as the local art academy, additionally, the establishment of the Brücke-Museum was largely on his behalf. This is also where his works can be viewed today, but also in numerous renowned collections all over the world. Karl Schmidt-Rottluff was honored with the Order pour le Mérite for Science and Art in 1956.