It, too draws upon adolescence as a liminal state of heightened sensitivity, conflict and unresolved yearnings…The Brucke works do not represent them merely as undeveloped versions of adults, nor are they sentimentalized. Instead, they have a disconcerting character stemming from the mixture of childhood innocence on the one hand and a developing self-awareness on the other. Brucke bohemianism negated the conventional "shame" of the body and nakedness, but did not replace it with a corresponding "innocence."

– Kirchner/Grange Books