Marianne von Werefkin - Pioneer of Expressionism

Ich schaffe mir ganz bewußt Illusionen und Träume.
Darin bin ich Künstler. Ich bin mehr Mann als Frau.
Allein das Bedürfnis zu gefallen und das Mitleid machen mich zur Frau.
Ich bin nicht Mann, ich bin nicht Frau, ich bin Ich.

(Marianne von Werefkin, 1905)

Marianne von Werefkin was dubbed the Russian Rembrandt at the age of 20. She played a crucial role in the development of expressionism in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. And she was part of the artist group Der Blaue Reiter. Yet Marianne von Werefkin (1860-1938) is far less well known than artists Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc and her long-time partner Alexej von Jawlensky. From autumn onwards, Marianne von Werefkin's colourful work will be on show in a retrospective in the Netherlands for the first time, together with a number of works by her contemporaries.

Museum de Fundatie is organising the exhibition Marianne von Werefkin - Pioneer of Expressionism in cooperation with the Museo Comunale d'Arte Moderna in Ascona.

_{Marianne von Werefkin, Landscape with red clouds, 1911, gouache & aquarel & inkt, De Fundatie Collection}

Marianne von Werefkin
As the scion of a wealthy family in Russia, Marianne von Werefkin had every opportunity to develop her artistic talents early on. Among other things, she was taught by the world-famous artist Ilya Repin. After moving to Munich with her partner and painter Alexej von Jawlensky in 1886, she stopped painting herself for almost a decade, partly to support him, but also 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 befriended artists, including Gabriele Münter, Alexej von Jawlensky, Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, to start painting expressionistically - with intense colours and abstracted, flat shapes. 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 depicting emotions and feelings was paramount. A direction that later gained worldwide fame as expressionism.

_{Marianne von Werefkin, Zirkus von der Vorstellung, 1908, tempera on cardboard, Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren}

For this retrospective, Museum de Fundatie is receiving an exceptionally large number of works on loan from the Fondazione Marianne Werefkin at the Museo Comunale d'Arte Moderna in Ascona. In addition, there will be loans from public and private collections in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland.

A comprehensive catalogue will accompany the exhibition Marianne von Werefkin - Pioneer of Expressionism, including contributions by Beatrice von Bormann, director of Museum de Fundatie and curator of this exhibition; by Mara Folini, director Museo Comunale d'Arte Moderna di Ascona; by Leiko Ikemura, visual artist; and by Roman Zieglgänsberger, curator of classical modern art at Museum Wiesbaden.

_{Marianne von Werefkin, The red tree, 1910, Fondazione, Marianne Werefkin, Museo Comunale d'Arte Moderna, Ascona}

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