The Bridge to Classical Modernism

The Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) and the Brücke (the Bridge) - associations of artists who today stand for the epitome of Expressionism as well as for paving the way for Classical Modernism in Germany. The exhibition Brücke und Blauer Reiter at the Von-der-Heydt-Museum in Wuppertal from 21 November onwards opens up new perspectives on the groups and approaches their significance and collaboration. The event is the result of a cooperation with the Buchheim Museum der Phantasie in Bernried on Lake Starnberg and the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz. Exhibits will be drawn from the museum's own collection as well as from the participating institutions - thus constituting the first ever bringing together of these collections. In addition, there are a few loans from national and international collections to round off the selection and provide visitors with a comprehensive insight. The exhibition ends on 27 February 2022.

Today, the Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) is regarded as an artists' association, although the name basically refers to the editorial team consisting of Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc for various exhibition and publication activities as well as the almanac of the same name. Under this pseudonym, two exhibitions (1911 and 1912) were organised in which many important artists of the dawning 20th century participated and among which the debut event in particular became legendary. Strictly speaking, the artists surrounding the Blaue Reiter thus formed only a loose network that is assigned to Expressionism.

In contrast, Die Brücke (The Bridge), which also had an Expressionist influence and was also instrumental in the emergence of Classical Modernism, was a permanent group founded in Dresden in 1905 by the four architecture students Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and dissolved again in 1913. The Brücke also included the artists Emil Nolde and Max Pechstein.