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Movement

Der Blaue Reiter

Early Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde

Der Blaue Reiter, The Blue Rider, was a loose association of German Expressionist artists founded in Munich in 1911 by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc after their work was rejected by a more conservative exhibiting society, taking its name from a Kandinsky painting and the pair's shared love of the color blue and of horsemen as a symbol. Unlike Die Brucke's raw, urban angst, the group pursued a more spiritual, lyrical form of abstraction, Kandinsky moving toward fully non-representational painting he believed could evoke feeling the way music does, while Marc's animal paintings used symbolic color to express a longed-for spiritual harmony between humanity and nature. The group also included August Macke and Paul Klee, published its own almanac in 1912 laying out its ideas, and dissolved with the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, in which Marc and Macke were both killed.

Facts
Start Year
1911 1
End Year
1914 1
Founded In Place
Munich, Germany 1
Key Principle
A spiritual, lyrical form of Expressionist abstraction using symbolic color and form to evoke inner feeling and a longed-for harmony between humanity and nature, moving toward fully non-representational painting. 1
Connections

Associated With

Paul Klee, Artists

Paul Klee joined the editorial team of the Der Blaue Reiter almanac (Wikipedia, Paul Klee).

Wassily Kandinsky co-founded Der Blaue Reiter in Munich in 1911, alongside Franz Marc.

Expressed In

Painting, Art Forms

Influenced

Sources
1. Museum of Modern Art Collection
The Museum of Modern Art, New YorkView the Source

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