Marianne Werefkin: “J'aime les choses qui ne sont pas”
The Silent Force of the Blue Rider Revolution
What do you think when you hear the term expressionism? A vivid tapestry of bold colours, exaggerated and distorted forms, dramatic gestures, and brushstrokes of raw feelings that demand attention. Perhaps, your mind goes to colourful dynamism of Wassily Kandinsky, to the haunting shadows and ethereal light of the early silent cinema, and to Arnold Schoenberg, who shattered the conventions of harmony with his atonal music.
Expressionism emerged in Germany around 1905. A diverse group of artists, writers, poets, musicians, and play-writers, driven by a deep yearning for authenticity and a connection to the spiritual realm, made a dramatic shift in the cultural fabric of the time. They cast aside the constraints of realism and the weight of tradition and they turned to introspection and emotions for inspiration. Yet, expressionism was more than an artistic style; it was a reaction to the world’s convulsions; a response to imperial ambition and colonial conquests, to the ethnic intolerance, class warfare and the existential crisis of the early 20th century. One of its pioneers was Käthe Kollwitz, who made one of the most shocking images in the history of art.
The Blue Rider Collective
In the early 1900s, Munich provided a relatively liberal and progressive environment for creative innovation. As Expressionism progressed in Germany, Munich attracted artists from marginalised and even less tolerant societies, including Jewish artists from Eastern Europe like Albert Bloch, women artists such as Elisabeth Epstein and Marianne von Werefkin, and those who did not fit socially or were exploring their gender identities. In 1911, these artists, drawn together by a shared commitment to spiritual ideas over formal conventions, formed the group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider).
In 1912, Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, founding members of the Blue Rider, co-edited the influential publication "The Blue Rider Almanac," featuring essays, artworks, and ideas that advocated for liberating art from constraints. “The whole work, called art, knows no borders and peoples, only humanity,” they wrote in the introduction, establishing Der Blaue Reiter (ca.1911-1914) as one of the first international artist circles. The movement was short-lived. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the group dispersed, but their innovative vision significantly influenced the development of European modern art.
Women expressionist artists, though often less well-known than their male counterparts like Wassily Kandinsky, played a pivotal role in shaping the Blue Rider collective. These trailblazing women challenged conventional norms, enriched the collective's diversity of ideas, and by pushing the boundaries of artistic expression, introduced radical novel approaches to art in Europe. Gabriele Münter (1877-1962), stands out as one of these remarkable women. Her efforts preserved the world’s most extraordinary collection of works by Kandinsky, Franz Marc, and Marianne Werefkin, along with her own experimental pieces, during the Nazi era. Münter hid hundreds of artworks in the basement of her house in the small Bavarian town of Murnau, just 60 kilometres from Munich, and in 1957, she donated everything to the Municipal Gallery at the Lenbachhaus in Munich, making it one of the world’s leading collections of the Expressionist art.
Marianne Werefkin: A Pioneering Force in Expressionism
Marianne von Werefkin was another pioneering woman in the German Expressionist movement, though she was often overshadowed by her male counterparts, especially her partner, Alexej von Jawlensky. Her work, though still underappreciated when compared to that of her peers like Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, is now gaining recognition for its vital role in European Expressionism.
Marianne Werefkin was born Marianna Wladimirowna Werewkina on September 10, 1860, in Tula, Russia, into a wealthy family. Her privileged background provided her with a robust educational foundation, and her parents, who fostered her early talents in painting and drawing, supported her artistic education by sending her to study under Ilya Repin, one of the foremost Russian realist painters.
At the age of twenty-eight Marianne Werefkin confessed to her father that she “had never had any of the obsessions of the young society ladies” and was “not afraid to be judged by society which, without having ever given [her] anything, could not claim something in return.”
In 1892, Werefkin met fellow artist Alexej von Jawlensky and four years later they moved to Munich, Germany, to advance their painterly experimentations and pursue their unorthodox relationship. Munich, a vibrant hub for avant-garde art and intellectual discourse, provided Werefkin with exposure to new artistic movements and philosophies and played a significant role in her artistic evolution. However, despite the stimulating environment, Werefkin took a decade-long hiatus from painting, mainly to support her partner Jawlensky in his artistic work. During this period, she maintained detailed journals and reflected on art, philosophy, and the socio-political climate of her time. These writings reveal Werefkin’s deep engagement with contemporary artistic debates, the role of art and its spiritual and symbolic dimensions. Her intellectual pursuits during this period significantly influenced the theoretical underpinning of the Blue Rider movement, where she was one of the founding members, and laid the groundwork for her later contributions to Expressionism.
In 1906, after a decade away from her art, Werefkin began painting once more, creating fascinating works in a new, expressive style, a significant departure from her earliest realist work. She was particularly interested in the human condition, exploring themes of alienation, joy, and suffering through her evocative use of colour and composition. She painted people at the circus, the theatre, the café while dancing, or at the beer garden. Werefkin was the only artist among the Blaue Reiter members who regularly focused on the world of the working class. Her paintings are notable for their emotional intensity and the way they convey complex psychological states. Werefkin had a notable influence on Wassily Kandinsky, particularly in the development of his artistic and theoretical ideas. Werefkin’s thoughts on the mystical and transcendent aspects of art influenced Kandinsky’s own theories, as seen in his seminal work "Concerning the Spiritual in Art.[1]"
The outbreak of World War I forced Werefkin and Jawlensky to relocate to Switzerland. After their separation in 1921, Werefkin settled in Ascona, a small village on the shore of Lake Maggiore, where she continued to paint. She remained in Ascona until her death on February 6, 1938. She left behind a body of work that has been increasingly recognised for its significance in the history of modern art. Despite the challenges of war and personal upheaval, Werefkin’s commitment to her artistic vision never wavered.
Modern German Art
In 1938, the British publishing house Penguin published a Pelican special edition monograph titled Modern German Art. The editor’s note on the cover of the book (photo below) underscores the significance of the publication.
The publication coincided with the ‘Exhibition of Twentieth Century German Art’ in the New Burlington Galleries in London. Originally planned to go under the provocative title “Banned Art” this groundbreaking exhibition was curated by the Swiss artist and gallerist Irmgard Burchard and it was a response to the Nazis’ persecution of the modernist artistic community in Germany at that time.
The introductory note on the exhibition’s publication highlights its purpose. “The organisers of the present exhibition are not concerned with the political aspect of this situation; they merely affirm one principle: that art as an expression of human spirit must be free. Art has its disciplines, but these originate in the mind of the artist, and cannot be imposed by the indoctrinated will of a statement, however wise. That is the only principle, we maintain but in virtue of the principle we can offer the persecuted artists of Germany the prospect of appealing to the unprejudiced eyes of the world.”
Footnotes
[1] Published in English by Constable and Company Limited, London in 1914 under the title “The Art of Spiritual Harmony”.
Sources and Further Reading
Museo Comunale d'Arte Moderna Ascona. (n.d.). Retrieved from (https://www.museoascona.ch
Exhibition of the Twentientienth Century German Art. (1938, July). Burlington Galleries, London. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/McGillLibrary-rbsc_stern_exhibition-twentieth-century-german-art_N6868E941938-20264/page/n1/mode/2up
Marianne Werefkin—From the Blue Rider to the Great Bear: An Exhibition in Retrospect. (2017). In P. Lanfermann, Marianne Werefkin and the Women Artists in Her Circle (pp. 20-30). Brill.
Matthias, M., Hoberg, A., & Straetmans, A. (2021). Goup Dynamica: The Blue Rider. Berlin: Hatje Cantz.
The Cosmopolitan Approach as a Constituent Aspect of Modernist Thought. (2017). In T. Malycheva, Marianne Werefkin and the Women Artists in Her Circle. Brill.