You might find your artistic endeavours overshadowed when a long-time partner is Wassily Kandinsky. But Gabriele Münter now enjoys wide recognition in her own right. The Leopold Museum brings us Austria’s first solo exhibition for this expressionist painter and leading light of the Avant-Garde in Germany.
- Full retrospective
- Covers various media
- …paintings, prints, photos & more
- Some 120 exhibits expected
- Runs Oct 20, 2023 – Feb 18, 2024
- Book Leopold Museum tickets* online
- See also:
A retrospective
(Gabriele Münter, Promenade along the Seine, c. 1904 © Kunsthalle Emden, Henri and Eske Nannen Foundation, Donation Otto van den Loo, Photo: bpk/Kunsthalle Emden/Martinus Ekkenga © Bildrecht, Wien 2022)
According to one source, Gabriele Münter once wrote (my rough translation):
Many saw me as just an unnecessary accompaniment to Kandinsky. People easily forget that a woman can be creative and have original and genuine talent
(Not the first or last woman to suffer in such a way.)
Berlin-born Münter (1877-1962) spent well over a decade at Kandinsky’s side, but her work spans a far greater timeframe. And, despite the sentiments written in that 1926 diary entry, her art has come to be acknowledged as pioneering and important.
The Leopold Museum’s Münter retrospective ties her biographical and creative chronology together in ten themes, each relating to a stage of her life (each often associated with artistic ramifications).
We see, of course, works from the early 1910s. This was the time of the short-lived but seminal Der Blaue Reiter project and sort-of-movement initiated by Kandinsky and Franz Marc, but with Münter contributing significantly to the activities and art created in that context.
(Gabriele Münter, The Blue Lake, 1954 © Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, Photo: LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz/Reinhard Haider © Bildrecht, Wien 2023)
Many define Münter in connection with that groundbreaking period, where her painting became increasingly separated from the subject and even veered into the abstract.
Der Blaue Reiter also attracted such individuals as Paul Klee and Alfred Kubin, and the Leopold Museum’s exhibition includes works from others associated with the project.
The retrospective, however, also gives due attention to Münter’s wider oeuvre.
For example, Münter’s time in Scandinavia (in the late 1910s) saw her tackle more figurative and portrait-like motifs, and a later period in Paris had her drifting towards post-expressionist New Objectivity.
We also see, for example, Münter’s prints, drawings and photographs, her love for the latter medium inspired by a long tour of the USA with her sister at the turn of the century.
(I’ll add more details once I’ve had a chance to get a good look.)
Dates, tickets & tips
Explore Münter’s oeuvre from October 20th, 2023 to February 18th, 2024. An entrance ticket from or for the Leopold Museum includes the exhibitions within.
(Booking service provided by Tiqets.com*, who I am an affiliate of)
The museum has a concurrent event for another expressionist painter who deserves more attention. A solo exhibition for Max Oppenheimer runs across the whole course of the Münter retrospective.
How to get there
Follow the travel tips at the end of the main Leopold Museum article. The location is part of the central MuseumsQuartier complex, and the exhibition should be on Level -2.
Address: MuseumsQuartier, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna