The image features thick, bold lines and jagged shapes composing an abstract scene. A circle resembling the sun is at the top right, radiating lines outward. Below, the lines and shapes suggest a group of people amidst tall, spiky forms that resemble trees or vegetation, creating a garden-like setting. Angular figures and organic shapes intermingle, evoking a surreal forest.
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Der Garten der Irren (The Garden of the Mad) (headpiece, page 12) from Georg Heym: Umbra Vitae (Georg Heym: The Shadow of Life)

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (German, 1880 - 1938)

and author Georg Heym (German, born Poland, 1887 - 1912)

printer Spamersche Buchdruckerei, Leipzig

publisher Kurt Wolff (German, 1887 - 1963)

1924

Medium
woodcut from a bound volume with 50 woodcuts (including cover and front and back endpapers) on wove paper
Classification
Volume
Dimensions
book: 23.8 × 16.5 × 1.2 cm (9 3/8 × 6 1/2 × 1/2 in.)
Culture
German
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CG-W
Credit line
Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen
Rights
Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art