Born: February 19, 1877 - Berlin, Germany
Died: May 19, 1962 - Murnau, Germany
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"...even as a child I practiced with the pencil and, specifically, that I always draw faces...I made no effort to depict events and actions. Only permanence in appearance fascinated me in a person - the form in which the essence was expressed."
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.
Key Ideas
Gabriele Münter’s relationship with art phenomenon Wassily Kandinsky both shaped and overshadowed her career. When it ended, Kandinsky shot to stardom, while Münter did not pick up a paint brush for nearly ten years. “In the eyes of many, I was only an unnecessary side-dish to Kandinsky”, she said.
Important Art by Gabriele Münter | |
 Artwork Images | Kandinsky (1906)Artwork description & Analysis: Printmaking was an integral part of Münter's practice, as it was for many of the German Expressionist artists. Like the later Die Brücke studies in printmaking (though Die Brücke artists worked predominantly in woodcut), Münter rendered Kandinsky's countenance in this portrait as a thick, black, graphic outline, punctuated by flat fields of color. Scholar Shulamith Behr notes that this work was Münter's first exploration of linocuts, executed while she was in Paris. The work nods to the influence of Paul Gauguin's woodcuts, which were on display in Paris in a 1906 retrospective, as well as to the inspiration of Henri Matisse's painted color blocking. Characteristic of Münter's practice, however, is her vacillation between naturalism and abstraction. She rendered Kandinsky's portrait as an accurate depiction of her subject, and included minute details such as the texture of Kandinsky's beard hair, and the lines of his eyes as seen from behind his glasses. Against such realistic detail, Münter composed the background as abstract color fields of naturalistic shapes, each color and curved form delineated with a thick, black outline. This play with the borders between naturalism and abstraction was one way Münter illustrated the life and attributes of her portrait subject. The organic shapes and verdant tones of the background forms, for example, connected Kandinsky to the brightly colored, color field landscape pieces he was creating at the time. Color linocut - Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich |
 Artwork Images | Countryside Near Paris (Bei Paris II) (1907)Artwork description & Analysis: An early landscape, this work demonstrates Münter's move away from more naturalistic scenes, under the influence of Kandinsky's tutelage, and her increasing knowledge of French Post-Impressionist artists. Composed during one of Münter and Kandinsky's sojourns in Paris (as he attempted to put distance between himself and his first, estranged wife) Münter's plein-air landscape represents the artist's experimentation with different, avant-garde techniques. Like the Post-Impressionist pieces of Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cézanne, Münter used quick brushstrokes and paint applied in a thick, tangible impasto to convey the barest sketches of trees, sky, road and a house. Oil on board - Brooklyn Museum, New York |
 Artwork Images | Mountains in the Twilight (1908)Artwork description & Analysis: This painting represents an evolution in Münter's practice, as she composed this landscape by foregrounding color studies, rather than relying on the highly textured or naturalistically contoured renderings of her earlier works. She depicted the Alps in vibrant blue tonalities, intermixed with shades of a light, reddish purple, which, in turn, incorporate lighter colors of lavender and yellow as the mountain range recedes to align with the distant blue and yellow sky. Oil on board - Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. |
More Gabriele Münter Artwork and Analysis:
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Influences on Artist
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Content compiled and written by Elizabeth Berkowitz
Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors
" Artist Overview and Analysis". [Internet]. . TheArtStory.org
Content compiled and written by Elizabeth Berkowitz
Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors
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First published on 27 May 2019. Updated and modified regularly. 
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