Colosseum and Arch of Constantine

Oskar Kokoschka

1949

Colored pencil on cream paper

Minneapolis Institute of Art

One of Austria’s leading exponents of Expressionism, Oskar Kokoschka was a prolific draftsman and printmaker whose vigorous drawing technique reinforces the emotional aspects of his subjects. Kokoschka considered sketching and drawing elemental to his expression, filling countless sketchbooks with rapidly executed depictions. Despite its modest scale, this lively colored pencil drawing exemplifies the immediacy and vitality of his graphic technique. Kokoschka’s fluid, gestural line captures fleeting impressions of form, color, and light, conveying a highly personal interpretation of two of Rome’s most famous antique monuments, the C