Friday, September 9, 2016

Young Expressionists at Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

Gabriele Münter
View of her brother's house in Bonn
1908
oil on cardboard
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

These Expressionist paintings from the dawn of the 20th century were chosen and acquired by Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (1921-2002), whose collection is now the basis of a public museum in Madrid. In the first period after inheriting a significant old-master picture-collection from his father, Hans-Heinrich made additional purchases only within already-established boundaries. Thyssen-Bornemisza publicity narratives explain what happened next 

"The change of focus took place at the start of the sixties, when he started to collect modern art. From then on, and with an already legendary skill in recognising exceptional quality in works of art, he broadened the scope of the collection, embracing all the important movements in modern art. In 1961 he acquired his first 20th century painting, a watercolour by the German painter, Emil Nolde. That same year he bought an important set of expressionist paintings. That art movement, that had been persecuted by the Nazis, drew his attention to modern art. German Expressionism appealed to him not only for its artistic value, but also for the historical context in which it developed. Declared to be “degenerate art” by the Nazis, it was persistently persecuted, banned and seized. What interested the baron were the human values and testimonials expressed in those paintings (more precisely, “the colour and freedom of expression” conveyed by Expressionist paintings) and he gathered together a very representative selection and formed an important collection that was one of the best of its kind." 

Gabriele Münter
Self-portrait
ca. 1908
oil on cardboard
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Gabriele Münter
School-house, Murnau
1908
oil on cardboard
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
 
Wassily Kandinsky
Murnau, top of Johannisstrasse
1908
oil on cardboard
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Wassily Kandinsky
The Ludwigskirche in Munich
1908
oil on cardboard
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Wassily Kandinsky
Murnau, houses in the Obermarket
1908
oil on cardboard
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

Christian Rohlfs
Garden at Soest
ca. 1905
oil on cardboard
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Autumn Landscape in Oldenburg
1907
oil on canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Erich Heckel
House in Dangast (The White House)
1908
oil on canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Georg Tappert
Varieté
1911
oil on canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Max Pechstein
House on the Kuhrische, Nehrung
1909
canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Emil Nolde
Summer Afternoon
1903
oil on canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Emil Nolde
Marsh Bridge
1910
oil on canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Emil Nolde
Summer Clouds
1913
oil on canvas
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid