colorful orbit of the early twentieth-century Blue Rider artists curated by Natalia Sidlina and Genevieve Barton •   •   • sometimes dream of escaping the confines of modern life for a rural idyll where the fecund creative mind unbound from its dirty urban fetters and banal social responsibilities Skagen at the northern tip of the Danish Peninsula for a brief window in early twentieth-century Germany a bohemian borough at the northeast edge of Munich and the verdant Murnau am Staffelsee at the foot of the Bavarian Alps genuinely liberating—is one of the most interesting lenses applied to the Expressionists and the Blue Rider group in a new retrospective of their vivid canvases and interdisciplinary publications at Tate Modern Occupying the same galleries as last summer’s Hilma af Klint and Piet Mondrian: Forms of Life which examined the shared philosophies and mysticisms of the two likewise turn-of-twentieth-century European painters this show also considers a broadly defined “spiritualism” that fueled the German-based cluster of artists who hailed from across the Continent’s more eastern reaches Biographies of the group’s core members are eccentric and heterogeneous eleven years younger and born in Prussian-era Berlin with whom he traveled across Europe and North Africa from 1904 to 1908—an unconventional relationship as Kandinsky was still married to his cousin Alexej Jawlensky and Marianne Werefkin were both from aristocratic families of the Russian Empire (he from Torzhok Petersburg and became life-partners (never wed) Franz Marc was born in Munich (then the capital of German Empire Bavaria) departed to see art and culture in Italy and France from 1902 to 1903 and then returned to become a book illustrator he began an enduring romance with Maria Franck an artist from Berlin studying at the Ladies Academy of the Royal School of Art in Munich Artists living in alternative relationships orphaned aristocrat artists with financial freedom artists who died young of general ill-health or in military action on the Western Front these painters and others congregated at the so-called “pink salon,” Werefkin’s apartment in Schwabing (she rented the entire floor at 23 Giselastrasse two apartments facing each other across the hall: one for her and hatched plans for their own schools and exhibitions “Schwabing was a spiritual island in the great world mostly in Munich itself,” Kandinsky wrote in a letter to the artist Paul Westheim in 1930 “There I painted the first abstract picture There I concerned myself with thoughts about ‘pure’ painting his painterly concerns continued forty miles south of Munich in Murnau where Münter bought a property that became locally known as the “Russenhaus” (Russian House) and images of the horse-and-rider design that would become the emblem of the Blue Rider group when it was hatched in their garden with Marc and Franck-Marc (Maria’s hyphenate adopted surname) in 1911 “Der Blaue Reiter” was fantastically titled (Kandinsky and Marc merely liked the image though the former was also an equine obsessive—“how does a horse see the world?” he once asked) and its project was both utopian and deeply personal The aim was “a union of various countries to serve one purpose,” wrote Kandinsky and Marc only humanity.” This vision appealed to artists with wildly varied practices and produced the loosely conceived Expressionism—more of an atmosphere or a striving rather than a series of delineated tendencies But the “movement” itself was also underpinned by intimate relationships intensely fragile—and soon-to-be-violently-extinguished—sense of unified international identity Courtesy Lenbachhaus Munich and Gabriele Münter and Johannes Eichner Foundation And I realize I have mentioned no actual works yet Not Kandinsky’s big and bright 1913 Study for Composition VII cornflower blue are pushed around the canvas by writhing lines and strokes of black Not Marc’s vivid 1912 canvases of a doe and a tiger hidden in densely geometric landscapes Not August Macke’s Walk on the Bridge (1913) Not Robert Delaunay’s Circular Shapes so admired by Kandinsky that he included it in the second of two Blue Rider exhibitions before the group was suddenly disbanded by the arrival of war These paintings and others run colorful and wild through the more than ten rooms of the exhibition But what I noticed above all—amid the brilliant palettes and bold brushstrokes the emphasis on translating interior states into abstract forms—is that it’s the people who make the place The most arresting works here are the tenderest the portraits and self-portraits frequently painted by women of women Münter painted the “Werefkina,” as they called her in oblongs of opalescent white and dusky pink her cheeky face chartreuse with blue highlights Werefkin’s 1910 self-portrait shows her in the same flowered hat aged fifty her glowing orange eyes fixing you on the spot Elisabeth Epstein (who introduced Robert Delaunay to the Blue Riders) painted herself in 1911 impossible shades and as fabulous as any abstraction Courtesy Gabriele Münter and Johannes Eichner Foundation are not the paintings at all but a series of black-and-white photographs taken by Münter on a visit to the United States with her sister from 1898 to 1900 Steamship “Pennsylvania” (1900) is a Whistler-esque scene of grays and blacks a bright prick of white just visible on a distant rippling horizon curiosity on their faces turned to the lens Münter was likewise struck by women in public spaces: Street Scene with Women in Traditional and Men in European Dress (1905) captures just what it says while the women shine in sinuous white robes and you have to look outside to see inside like the Expressionists and the Blue Rider enterprises alike will be as universal as it is idiosyncratic Emily LaBarge is a writer based in London Dog Days will be published in the UK by Peninsula Press in 2025 Excerpts appeared in the winter 2023 issue of Granta and the autumn 2023 issue of Mousse the Dutchman continued his remarkable run of form in bunch sprints with gold in Munich Picture by GETTY IMAGESBy Rory JiwaniFabio Jakobsen kept up his superb recent record in bunch sprints to take gold in the men's road race at the European Championships on Sunday (14 August) scored his 12th win of the year to take the coveted title France's Arnaud Demare took silver with Tim Merlier of Belgium in third The largely flat course of 209km from Murnau am Staffelsee to Munich always looked like one for the sprinters and so it proved Jakobsen was brought into position perfectly by Danny van Poppel normally the lead-out man for Sam Bennett (who finished fifth just behind van Poppel) at the Bora Hansgrohe team and he surged past Merlier with Demare following him through into second "They all did a good job, a perfect job, and I'm super proud of them... especially Danny van Poppel. He put me in the wheel of Merlier in the last 500m and I could go into his slipstream and push power at max speed and I'm super happy that I could win. "I think it's probably one of the biggest victories of my career. I'm proud of this jersey and I'm going to wear it with honour for a year." You can also follow all the action via our social media and on Olympics.com including Iranian-designed Shahed-type drones located about 70 kilometers northwest of Donetsk remains one of the most fiercely contested sectors of the front where Russia has concentrated its main offensive efforts since March  (Updated:  May 6, 2025 11:41 am)Ukraine's drones target Moscow second night in a row, Russian official claims, ahead of Victory Day parade. Debris from one of the drones reportedly fell on the Kashirskoye Highway The reported attack comes just days before Russia's Victory Day parade and three-day "truce." Vice President Mike Pence said Putin "only understands power." About 800 million euros ($905 million) will be allocated for the acquisition and installation of anti-tank mines to deter potential aggression  (Updated:  May 6, 2025 9:36 am)War analysisFrance is sending Ukraine more AASM Hammer bombs — here's what they can do Polish President Andrzej Duda said the United States has tools that can effectively influence the Kremlin arguing that only President Donald Trump has real leverage over Russian President Vladimir Putin The number includes 1,430 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day "To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement" by Benjamin Nathans which covers dissent in the Soviet Union and Russia today Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on May 5 announced they had facilitated Russian journalist Ekaterina Barabash's escape from Russia to France after she fled house arrest on April 21 A Russian drone attack on Odesa Oblast on May 5 killed one and caused damage to local infrastructure "We appreciate that Germany plays a pivotal role in supporting Ukraine throughout the years of war Ukraine is also grateful for your personal commitment," President Volodymyr Zelensky said MPs will be able to ask questions and learn more about the details of the agreement in meetings with Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko May 6-7 MP Serhii Sobolev told the news outlet Suspilne The ratification vote is scheduled for May 8  (Updated:  April 28, 2024 9:13 pm) • 2 min readby Kateryna Denisova, Alexander KhrebetPhoto for illustrative purposes: Those against the rise of the far-right gather for a rally on Jan Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Germany to protest against the AfD following the recent revelation that high-ranking AfD members met with far-right extremists at a villa in Potsdam last November (Jens Schlueter/Getty Images)Editor's note: This item was updated after Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said the two Ukrainians killed were soldiers on rehabilitation in Germany A Russian man is suspected of killing two Ukrainian soldiers who were stabbed in the town of Murnau am Staffelsee in Germany on April 27 German local police and Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said were found with stab wounds on the territory of a shopping center One of them reportedly died on the scene from severe injuries and the other in the hospital the same evening The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on April 28 that the men were Ukrainian soldiers on medical rehabilitation in Germany The ministry said Ukrainian consuls are clarifying information regarding the units where the late soldiers served Details and motives of the murder are being investigated The suspect, a 57-year-old Russian citizen, was detained at his home, the police said Prosecutors requested to keep the suspect under arrest for the time of the investigation A court is supposed to make a decision on the pre-trial restriction on April 28 German police reported in February about the street knife attack on two Ukrainian basketball players in Germany. Seventeen-year-old Volodymyr Yermakov and 18-year-old Artem Kozachenko died in hospital due to injuries According to the Kyiv Basketball Federation, the attackers may have been motivated by hatred toward Ukraine. However, the German police reportedly do not believe the attack had a political motive, t-online reported.