Gabriele Münter. The Great Expressionist Woman Painter

The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum will host the first retrospective in Spain focusing on Gabriele Münter, one of the outstanding German expressionists from the early 20th century, in the temporary exhibition hall (Ground Floor) from 12 November to 9 February 2025.

Gabriele Münter (1877-1962) stands out for being one of the founders of The Blue Rider [Der Blaue Reiter], the legendary group of Expressionist artists based in Munich.  The exhibition presents more than one hundred paintings, drawings, prints and photographs, through which more can be found out about an artist who  rebelled against the limits imposed on women of her day. 

The woks of the German painter are characterised by the use of precise lines and intense colours, immersing the spectator in her private world. Lovers, friends, everyday objects, landscapes or Münter herself are reduced to their essence in her works.

The exhibition kicks off with a section devoted to the start of her activities as an amateur photographer and analyses how her relationship with this modern medium of expression was fundamental for her subsequent development.  The exhibition continues with a focus on her pictorial activity through a chronological-thematic journey with works executed during the artist’s travels around Europe and North Africa with her partner, Wassily Kandinsky, followed by a section devoted to her masterpieces from the Blue Rider period.  The final section focuses on her exile in Scandinavia during World War I and the different expressive pathways that she pursued following her return to Germany.

Over the course of her career, Gabriele Münter has frequently shown her powers of adaptation, as well as her tireless desire to experiment and her unprejudiced attitude towards what is new and different. The exhibition aims to reveal the richness of an artist who is well known in Germany but has only started to acquire greater status in the rest of Europe in recent years.  

This project is the result of the collaboration of the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum with Gabriele Münter-und Johannes Eichner-Stiftung and the Städtische Galerie am Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau in Munich.

Image Credits:

• Gabriele Münter. Portrait of Marianne von Werefkin, 1909. Cardboard, 81.2× 55.2 cm. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München, Munich, donation by Gabriele Münter, 1957 Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München, Gabriele Münter Stiftung 1957 © Gabriele Münter, VEGAP, Madrid
• Gabriele Münter. View from the house of the artist’s brother, Bonn, 1908. Oil on cardboard. 47.2 x 33.6 cm. Carmen Thyssen Collection. © Gabriele Münter, VEGAP, Madrid
• Gabriele Münter. Still life with St. George, 1911. Cardboard, 51.1× 68 cm. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München, Munich, donation by Gabriele Münter, 1957 Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München, Gabriele Münter Stiftung 1957 © Gabriele Münter, VEGAP, Madrid