Marianne von Werefkin was already being called the Russian Rembrandt by the age of twenty. At the beginning of the 20th century, she played a crucial role in the development of Expressionism in Germany. She was also a member of the artists’ network Der Blaue Reiter. Yet Marianne von Werefkin (1860–1938) is far less well-known than artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, and her longtime partner Alexej von Jawlensky. Starting this fall, Marianne von Werefkin’s colorful work will be on view for the first time in the Netherlands in a retrospective exhibition, alongside a number of works by her contemporaries.
Museum de Fundatie is organizing the exhibition Marianne von Werefkin: Pioneer of Expressionism in collaboration with the Museo Comunale d’Arte Moderna in Ascona.
In the Pink Salon at her home in Munich, Marianne von Werefkin invited artists from various disciplines to exchange ideas. Visitors will also find a Pink Salon in the exhibition Marianne von Werefkin: Pioneer of Expressionism. We have asked artists from various disciplines to contribute their thoughts or reflect on the work and lives of Werefkin and her contemporaries in a digital Pink Salon.
Marianne von Werefkin
As the daughter of a wealthy family in Russia, Marianne von Werefkin had every opportunity to develop her artistic talents from an early age. Among others, she received instruction from the world-renowned artist Ilya Repin. After moving to Munich in 1896 with her partner, the painter Alexej von Jawlensky, she stopped painting herself for nearly ten years—partly to support him, and partly to further develop her own art. To avoid getting stuck in realism, she had to reinvent herself.
In 1907, Marianne von Werefkin was the first of a group of artist friends—including Gabriele Münter, Alexej von Jawlensky, Wassily Kandinsky, and Franz Marc—to begin painting in an Expressionist style, using intense colors and abstract, flat forms. During two summers in 1908–09 in Murnau am Staffelsee, Germany, she brought Jawlensky, Kandinsky, and Münter closer to this new way of painting, in which the depiction of emotions and feelings took center stage. A movement that later gained worldwide fame as Expressionism.
For this retrospective exhibition, Museum de Fundatie has received an exceptionally large number of works on loan from the Fondazione Marianne Werefkin at the Museo Comunale d’Arte Moderna in Ascona. In addition, works have been loaned from public and private collections in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Switzerland.
The exhibition Marianne von Werefkin – Pioneer of Expressionism will be accompanied by a comprehensive catalog featuring contributions by Beatrice von Bormann, director of Museum de Fundatie and curator of this exhibition; Mara Folini, director of the Museo Comunale d’Arte Moderna di Ascona; Leiko Ikemura, visual artist; and Roman Zieglgänsberger, curator of classical modern art at Museum Wiesbaden.
