128 ARTS & GALLERIES
EXPRESSIONISTS : KANDINSKY , MÜNTER AND THE BLUE RIDER
In the early 20th century , an international circle of friends came together to transform modern art . Their story is told in a major new exhibition at Tate Modern – Expressionists : Kandinsky , Münter and the Blue Rider – celebrating their radical experimentation with form , colour , sound and performance .
The show draws on the world ’ s richest collection of expressionist masterpieces at the Lenbachhaus in Munich , alongside rare loans from public and private collections , including works never previously seen in the UK . From celebrated artists like Wassily Kandinsky , Gabriele Münter , Franz Marc and Paul Klee , to previously overlooked figures like Wladimir Burliuk and Maria Franck-Marc , the exhibition reveals the multicultural and transnational nature of this key moment in early modernist art .
The Blue Rider ( Der Blaue Reiter ) was a loosely affiliated and diverse network of artists , connected by their desire to express personal experiences and spiritual ideas . They published their groundbreaking Almanac in 1912 , edited by Kandinsky and Marc , and staged two public exhibitions in 1911 and 1912 . The collective brought together highly individual creatives from across western and eastern Europe and the USA to form ‘ a union of various countries to serve one purpose ’. They proclaimed that ‘ the whole work , called art , knows no borders or nations , only humanity .’
Tate Modern ’ s exhibition begins with the collective ’ s core couple of Kandinsky and Münter and their creative network in pre- First World War Munich . Munich at that time was an artistic hub of experimentation where different cultures and experiences converged . A room of stunning portraits and self-portraits introduce this diasporic creative community , including Marianne Werefkin ’ s Self-Portrait c . 1910 and Münter ’ s Listening ( Portrait of Jawlensky ) 1909 . A selection of photographs from the Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art exhibition staged in Munich in 1910 and Erma Bossi ’ s bold and expressive Circus 1909 demonstrate diverse urban experiences , while themes of sexuality and performance are explored through Werefkin ’ s collaboration with free-style performer Alexander Sacharoff , including her provocative 1909 portrait reflecting the dancer ’ s androgynous persona .
The urban centre of Munich is contrasted with rural Murnau , a small sub-Alpine Bavarian town which became home for Münter and Kandinsky from 1909 . This space for creative exchange and artistic experimentation inspired a new search for spirituality and an interest in folk art . Encounters with the local landscape and vernacular culture influenced a move to expressive painterly compositions focused on the power of line and colour , leading Kandinsky and Münter to radically new approaches in both abstract and figurative painting such as Improvisation Deluge 1913 and Portrait of Marianne Werefkin 1909 . Meanwhile , their friends and collaborators Marc and Franck-Marc explored the animal world and the creativity of children through works such as Tiger 1912 and Girl with Toddler c . 1913 .
Some rooms offer visitors experiential environments focused on single works which capture modernism ’ s fascination with sound , colour and light . These include Kandinsky ’ s Impression III ( Concert ) 1911 , revealing his interest in the neurodiverse condition known
as synaesthesia in which one of the senses is experienced through another , and Franz Marc ’ s 1911 Deer in the Snow II , whose mysteries are unlocked through an exploration of colour theory and optics .
The exhibition concludes by showing how the Blue Rider artists ensured their lasting legacy in ways we recognise today – publishing manifestos and editorials , curating exhibitions , touring shows , and fostering relationships with museums and galleries . Münter staged a solo show at Berlin ’ s Der Sturm , Klee ’ s Legend of the Swamp 1919 nearly perished in the infamous Degenerate Art exhibition of 1937 , while Kandinsky ’ s text On the Spiritual in Art was translated and is still published internationally across the globe . With the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 the collective was dispersed , but their ideas and aspirations for a transnational creative community still resonate powerfully today .
THE ART OF LUXURY ISSUE 64 2024