Gabriele Münter (1877-1962) was a co-founder of the Blaue Reiter and is now considered an outstanding Expressionist artist in Germany. Fueled by the urge to develop an independent style, Münter was eager to experiment. She always took inspiration from newly emerging art movements such as New Objectivity and thus created a multifaceted oeuvre. From January 29 to May 08, 2022, the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern will present Gabriele Münter. Pioneer of Modernism, in addition to Münter's main expressionist works, the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern is also exhibiting unknown works and photographs as well as prints: another important show of works, which opposes the reception of Münter as a pure Expressionist and a student of the genius Wassily Kandinsky, which was widespread until a few years ago.
Like many women artists of her time, Gabriele Münter was perceived for decades as a secondary artist and companion of a male genius, in her case Kandinsky. For a few years now, the view of Münter has been changing, to which the Zentrum Paul Klee makes a further contribution: Münter was a recognized artist who was committed as few were to the goal of developing her own independent stylistic language. Experimentation with the many emerging art movements, however, stood in her way: contemporaries tended to see it as an uncertainty about following a particular artistic path. Her brief recognition as an avant-gardist, as in Scandinavia, was quickly forgotten, and her trend-setting work in the exhibitions of the Blaue Reiter received less attention than the works of Kandinsky and Franz Marc. During National Socialism, her paintings were rejected. It was not until her participation in documenta 1 (1955) that Münter, who turned to abstract art for the first time at the age of over 70, was able to achieve success again.
