Tate Modern opens its doors to “Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider”

On April 25, 2024, the Tate Modern heralds the launch of the much-anticipated exhibition “Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider,” dedicated to the vanguard of expressionism and the acclaimed group ‘The Blue Rider’. Afisha.London magazine offers an early glimpse into this unique display, set to enchant visitors with revolutionary art.

Wassily Kandinsky, the prodigious figure whose life and art mirror the early 20th-century upheavals, was born into affluence in Moscow and soon found his calling with the brush and palette. Later his family moved to Odessa and there under balmy sun, he took his first artistic strides, an endeavour passionately supported by his father, who arranged for a private drawing tutor during his gymnasium years.

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By age 30, Kandinsky had moved to Munich, studying under Anton Azhbe before advancing to the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. It was here that he encountered Gabriele Münter, who would become his companion and muse for many ensuing years.

The Tate Modern exhibit presents works that tell Kandinsky’s personal story and signify the advent of a new direction in art shared with his ‘Blue Rider’ compatriots.

In 1911, Kandinsky and Franz Marc founded ‘The Blue Rider,’ a collective spontaneously named for their shared love of blue, horses, and riders. The group united artists, musicians, and writers to convey personal experiences and spiritual quests through art. They released an almanac in 1912 and organized two pioneering exhibitions, melding cubism and fauvism, declaring, “All work known as art is limitless and knows no national borders.”

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London’s exhibit ‘Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Ride’ draws from a trove of masterpieces housed in Munich’s Lenbachhaus Gallery and showcases over 130 pieces, many never before seen in Britain, for the first time in 60 years.

Wassily Kandinsky ‘Cossacks’, 1910-1911. Photo: Afisha.London

This showcase at Tate Modern features works by Kandinsky and Münter, as well as their ‘Blue Rider’ peers, documenting their legacy and the urban-versus-rural dichotomy in their work. It reflects how their creative exchange and artistic trials in the Bavarian township of Murnau led to radically new approaches in abstract and figurative painting.

The exhibition will run until October 20, 2024, offering a unique chance to immerse in the artistic experiments that shaped contemporary art, celebrating ‘The Blue Rider’s’ contribution to a transnational creative community that endures to this day.

Cover photo: Margarita Bagrova, Afisha.London

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