Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
How it felt to be free
CHRISTINE LINDEY guides us through the vivid expressionism of a significant but apolitical group of pre WWI artists in Germany
Gabriele Münter, Portrait of Marianne von Werefkin, 1909; Listening (Portrait of Jawlensky), 1909 [Lenbachhaus Munich © DACS 2024;]

Expressionists: Kandinsky, Munter and the Blue Rider
Tate Gallery, London

In 1912 the Blue Rider artist Franz Marc wrote: “We are today seeking behind the veil of nature’s outward appearance hidden things which seem to us more important than the discoveries of the Impressionists... Art always has been and is in its very essence the boldest departure from nature and ‘naturalness’. It is the bridge into the spirit world.” No wonder that their works baffled most of their public which was used to the 19th century’s highly realistic depictions of the visible world.

Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, Der Blaue Reiter, 1912. CREDIT: Public Domain
Wassily Kandinsky, Riding Couple, 1906-1907. CREDIT: Lenbachhaus Munich
Wassily Kandinsky, Improvisation Deluge, 1913. CREDIT: Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus
The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
(L to R) How many Aunties?, Back Hares Mount, Leeds, 1978; M
Photography / 14 April 2025
14 April 2025

Peter Mitchell's photography reveals a poetic relationship with Leeds

The crowd at Manchester Punk Festival 2024
Culture / 11 April 2025
11 April 2025
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
Tower of Babel, 1982
Culture / 10 April 2025
10 April 2025
This is poetry in paint, spectacular but never spectacle for its own sake, writes JAN WOOLF
Second Cumming - Bella Caledonia 2020, by Lorna Miller
Exhibition review / 21 March 2025
21 March 2025
In an exhibition of the graphic art of Lorna Miller, MATT KERR takes a lungful of the oxygen of dissent