der Blaue Reiter

der Blaue Reiter [Ger.,=the blue rider], German expressionist art movement, lasting from 1911 to 1914. It took its name from a painting by Kandinsky, Le cavalier bleu. Following the Brücke artists of the previous decade, this second wave of expressionism was led by Kandinsky , Klee , Marc , and Macke , in Munich. Through the use of distorted forms and startling color, they sought to discover spiritual truths that they felt the impressionists had overlooked. Less united stylistically and as a group than the Brücke, their art ranged from the sometime pure abstractions of Kandinsky to the romantic imagery of Marc. In 1911, Kandinsky and Marc prepared a significant collection of articles and illustrations published as the Blaue Reiter Album. Common to the artists in the group was a philosophical spirit, an intellectual approach to technique, and great lyrical spontaneity. The group disbanded at the outbreak of World War I. Marc and Macke were killed in battle.

Bibliography: See study by H. K. Roethel (tr. 1972).

Blaue Reiter, Der (The Blue Rider). A loose association of artists formed in Munich in 1911 as a splinter group from the Neue Künstlervereinigung. The name was also used in the title of the Almanac (a collection of essays and illustrations) published in 1912 by Kandinsky and Marc, two of the central figures of the group; the cover of the Almanac featured a drawing by Kandinsky of a blue horseman (blue was the favourite colour of Marc, who regarded it as particularly spiritual, and the horse was his most cherished subject; Kandinsky, too, often painted horses with riders, evoking ideas of medieval knights or warrior saints). Although the members of the group (who included Klee and Macke) differed widely in their artistic outlooks, they were linked by a desire to express spiritual values in their work. They held two exhibitions (1911 and 1912) that brought the work of Der Blaue Reiter to several major cities of Germany, and the association had international affiliations; Braque, Derain, Goncharova, Larionov, and Picasso were among those whose works were shown in the second exhibition. With the outbreak of the First World War the group disintegrated, but its short life is considered to mark the high point of German Expressionism.