Gabriele münter self-portrait

Summary of Gabriele Münter

Münter's name is inextricably linked with her erstwhile colleague and lover Wassily Kandinsky, yet few would contest the view that her contribution to the canons of twentieth century modernism deserves to be recognized on its own terms. Best known as a painter and printmaker, she is usually discussed under the umbrella of German Expressionism and as a member of the famous Blaue Reiter group.

Inspired by folk art and non-western art, and known for her spontaneous approach to canvases, she produced vibrant figurative and abstract works characterized by dramatic color and loose brushstrokes. In the mid-1930s her political credentials were called into question when she submitted safe figurative works - possibly out of self-preservation - to the National Socialist project (though ultimately her art was rejected by the Nazi Party). In the post-war years her oeuvre was re-evaluated and art history has positioned her as an important link between the pre-war and post-war German avant-gardes.

Accomplishments

• Together, Münter and Kandinsky explored new aes
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  German painter, born in Berlin. She was a talented pianist before she took up painting. In 1902 she became a pupil of *Kandinsky at the *Phalanx School in Munich and she was his lover until the First World War parted them in 1914 (he returned to Russia; she went to Switzerland). With Kandinsky and *Jawlensky she helped to found the *Neue Künstlervereinigung München in 1909 and she contributed to many of the most significant avant-garde exhibitions in Germany up to the First World War, including both *Blaue Reiter exhibitions. After the war she travelled a good deal before settling in Murnau (where she had previously lived with Kandinsky) in 1931. Their relationship had often been a difficult one (Kandinsky felt guilty because he was married and could not obtain a divorce), but she revered him as a man and artist: ‘He was a holy man…He loved, understood, treasured, and encouraged my talent.

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  ’ Stylistically, however, her work is closer to Jawlensky. Landscape was her chief subject. She lived

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  Gabriele Münter

  German painter (1877–1962)

  Gabriele Münter (19 February 1877 – 19 May 1962) was a German expressionist painter who was at the forefront of the Munichavant-garde in the early 20th century.^[1] She studied and lived with the painter Wassily Kandinsky and was a founding member of the expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter.

  Early life

  Münter was born to upper middle-class parents in Berlin on 19 February 1877.^[2] Her family supported her desires to become an artist. Her father died in 1886. She began to draw as a child. As she was growing up, she had a private tutor. In 1897, at the age of twenty, Münter received artistic training in the Düsseldorf studio of artist Ernst Bosch and later at the Damenschule (Women's School) with artist Willy Spatz.^[3]

  By the time she was 21 years old, both of her parents had died and she was living at home with no occupation. In 1898, she decided to take a trip to America with her sister to visit extended family. They stayed in America for more than two years, mainly in the states of Texas, A