Gabriele Münter was expressive and eager to experiment — and she decisively influenced modern art in the 20th century. With "Painting to the Point," Cologne's Museum Ludwig has dedicated a major exhibition to the artist.
Advertisement
Master of abstract art: 150th anniversary of Wassily Kandinsky's birth
With his abstract paintings, Wassily Kandinsky revolutionized art history - but his work wasn't always appreciated by his contemporaries. Kandinsky was born on December 4, 1866.
First abstract watercolor
With his first abstract watercolor, Kandinsky raised eyebrows in 1911. For some, he was a revolutionary, while others considered him insane. In retrospect, the Russian painter, graphic artist and art theorist, who was born on December 4, 1866 in Moscow, was the founder of Abstract Expressionism and had a tremendous impact on the other artists of his day.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
The Blue Rider (1903)
This painting was one of Kandinsky's earlier works and shares the name of his artists' group, The Blue Rider, which he founded with Franz Marc in 1912. Apparently, Marc loved horses and Kandinsky liked to paint riders. Since both liked the color blue, they quickly settled on the name.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
Bavarian Village with Field (1908)
Kandinsky spent a lot of time in Murnau, in Bavaria, where he painted churches, villages and forests in brilliant colors. It's already clear that he was straying from realistic depictions. For him, the emotional impression that colors left was more important.
Image: picture-alliance/Heritage Images
Impressions III (Concert) 1911
The internal world of human thoughts was fascinating to Kandinsky - more so than the external world. He looked for rules and structure in his work - which already existed for music in the form of notation. Borrowing from music, he named his works improvisations, impressions or compositions. Instruments and their sounds were depicted with colors. Bright yellow stood for high trumpet tones.
Image: Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, München
Composition V (1911)
The new art form, in which colors and forms were liberated, irritated many conservative art lovers. At exhibitions, The Blue Rider art collective was spit on and insulted. Kandinsky's "Composition V" was even banned from an exhibition.
Image: picture-alliance/Heritage Images
Yellow Red Blue (1925)
Kandinsky liked to use primary colors like red, blue and yellow because he felt they calmed people. At the Bauhaus school in Weimar and Dessau, he developed color charts that were based on the theories of Wolfgang von Goethe, who had studied our perception of color and its psychological impact.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/N. Försterling
Picture II, Gnomus (1928)
Wassily Kandinsky was a synesthete. Like some composers of his time, he dreamed of creating a "Gesamtkunstwerk" by combining music, art, dance and poetry. He made an attempt to synthesize various art forms with his stage play "Pictures at an Exhibition." Based on the music of Modest Mussorgsky, he designed geometric elements and dancing figurines.
Image: Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung, Universität zu Köln
Sky Blue (1940)
During his time at the Bauhaus school, Kandinsky's works were characterized by geometric forms. He changed his style while living in exile in Paris. In his later works, he created amorphous forms and shapes which appeared surrealistic. But very few Paris galleries were willing to show his paintings. In exile, Kandinsky was no longer able to achieve the fame he'd enjoyed in Russia and Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images/M. Babey
8 images1 | 8
Color-intensive portraits of her artist friends, romantic landscapes of her adopted Bavarian home, rare photographs from a trip to the United States in the late 19th century, interiors, abstract graphics, even primitivist images — all of this has been gathered together in the Cologne show, which was created in collaboration with Munich's Lenbachhaus
The new exhibition invites visitors to rediscover and re-evaluate Gabriele Münter, who lived from 1877 to 1962. What would German expressionism be without the self-confident painter, photographer and graphic artist?
"Her role as a dedicated proponent, mediator, and longtime companion of Wassily Kandinsky is well-known and recognized," Museum Ludwig states on its website. "This exhibition demonstrates Gabriele Münter's importance and independence as a painter: with more than 120 paintings, including works from her estate that will be presented to the public for the first time, it will offer a new look at this strong artist."
The Blue Rider Group in Bavaria
03:45
Simple language, complex content
Münter's joy in experimenting as an artist can be found in many of the works on show. "I bring out what is expressive in reality; I simply present, without digression, the core of something," Münter once remarked. "So the completeness of the natural phenomenon is disregarded, the forms gather into outlines, the colors into surfaces."
This is how Münter, part of the Blue Rider group, once formulated her idea of painterly creativity. She wanted to directly reproduce the essence of a motif, and she made use of a seemingly simple formal language. But the directness of many motifs contrasts with a multilayered content.
The Cologne exhibition is divided into 10 thematic areas, each of which presents specific aspects of her work. The exhibition "Gabriele Münter — Painting to the Point," which first stopped off in Munich and Copenhagen, can be seen at Museum Ludwig from September 15 to January 13.
Master of abstract art: 150th anniversary of Wassily Kandinsky's birth
With his abstract paintings, Wassily Kandinsky revolutionized art history - but his work wasn't always appreciated by his contemporaries. Kandinsky was born on December 4, 1866.
First abstract watercolor
With his first abstract watercolor, Kandinsky raised eyebrows in 1911. For some, he was a revolutionary, while others considered him insane. In retrospect, the Russian painter, graphic artist and art theorist, who was born on December 4, 1866 in Moscow, was the founder of Abstract Expressionism and had a tremendous impact on the other artists of his day.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
The Blue Rider (1903)
This painting was one of Kandinsky's earlier works and shares the name of his artists' group, The Blue Rider, which he founded with Franz Marc in 1912. Apparently, Marc loved horses and Kandinsky liked to paint riders. Since both liked the color blue, they quickly settled on the name.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
Bavarian Village with Field (1908)
Kandinsky spent a lot of time in Murnau, in Bavaria, where he painted churches, villages and forests in brilliant colors. It's already clear that he was straying from realistic depictions. For him, the emotional impression that colors left was more important.
Image: picture-alliance/Heritage Images
Impressions III (Concert) 1911
The internal world of human thoughts was fascinating to Kandinsky - more so than the external world. He looked for rules and structure in his work - which already existed for music in the form of notation. Borrowing from music, he named his works improvisations, impressions or compositions. Instruments and their sounds were depicted with colors. Bright yellow stood for high trumpet tones.
Image: Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, München
Composition V (1911)
The new art form, in which colors and forms were liberated, irritated many conservative art lovers. At exhibitions, The Blue Rider art collective was spit on and insulted. Kandinsky's "Composition V" was even banned from an exhibition.
Image: picture-alliance/Heritage Images
Yellow Red Blue (1925)
Kandinsky liked to use primary colors like red, blue and yellow because he felt they calmed people. At the Bauhaus school in Weimar and Dessau, he developed color charts that were based on the theories of Wolfgang von Goethe, who had studied our perception of color and its psychological impact.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/N. Försterling
Picture II, Gnomus (1928)
Wassily Kandinsky was a synesthete. Like some composers of his time, he dreamed of creating a "Gesamtkunstwerk" by combining music, art, dance and poetry. He made an attempt to synthesize various art forms with his stage play "Pictures at an Exhibition." Based on the music of Modest Mussorgsky, he designed geometric elements and dancing figurines.
Image: Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung, Universität zu Köln
Sky Blue (1940)
During his time at the Bauhaus school, Kandinsky's works were characterized by geometric forms. He changed his style while living in exile in Paris. In his later works, he created amorphous forms and shapes which appeared surrealistic. But very few Paris galleries were willing to show his paintings. In exile, Kandinsky was no longer able to achieve the fame he'd enjoyed in Russia and Germany.