“WE WERE ONLY A GROUP OF FRIENDS who shared a common passion for painting as a form of self-expression. Each of us was interested in the work of the other, in the health and happiness of the others.” It’s a warming statement from Gabriele Münter in 1958, reflecting on Der Blaue Reiter (the Blue Rider), a Munich-based network of both German and international artists to which she and other Expressionists, including Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, had belonged from 1911 until 1914.
Münter also noted that the Blue Rider seemed much less competitive than other art collectives or schools active during the same period. This central theme of friendship – rather than ambition – is at the heart of the forthcoming Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider exhibition at Tate Modern.
“This is something that will resonate with audiences
