Out in the elements

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Three bathers 1913 is one of the great modern European paintings in Australia. Acquired in 1984, it was the very first artwork purchased with the support of the newly established Art Gallery of New South Wales Foundation and has been on near-constant display ever since.

The Art Gallery is always seeking ways to enhance the stories we tell about important pictures in the collection. It is especially powerful when this can be done through the acquisition of studies and related works that add texture and depth to the collection and offer new perspectives on beloved works. In June 2025, with thanks to the foresight and enthusiasm of Michael, Alexandra and Phoebe Joel, the Art Gallery was able to acquire Kirchner’s Three bathers in the wave 1913, the preliminary work for our painting and an exceptional expressionist drawing in its own right. It was a drawing so valued by the artist that, more than a decade after it was executed, he chose it to be reproduced in his monograph Die Zeichnungen von E. L. Kirchner (The drawings of EL Kirchner), published in 1925.