Free expressionism: a fresh look at revolutionary art collective the Blue Rider

A new exhibition shows how the early 20th-century German artists, helmed by Wassily Kandinksy and Gabriele Münter, created a space where creativity could flourish without the constraints of gender, sexuality or artistic expectation

The story of expressionist art, with its bold colours,& off-kilter figures& and presciently unsettling atmosphere of pre-first world war Germany, is usually told through the& prism of two groups of artists: Die& Brücke (The Bridge), operating out& of& Dresden and featuring Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Erich Heckel; and Der Blaue Reiter (the Blue& Rider) in& Munich, which was led& by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz& Marc. But a new exhibition at London’s Tate Modern focusing on the Blue Rider& – the first major show on the subject in the UK for more than 60& years – explicitly seeks to both expand& and complicate that established narrative.

A clue to the show’s thesis comes in its title, Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider. Gabriele Münter was a wealthy photographer, painter and partner of Kandinsky who& had undertaken part of her art education and development in the United States. Her elevation above Marc in the Blue Rider story not only sees a& woman placed at the centre of this remarkable artistic enterprise, but also serves to expand it beyond the& borders of Germany and to celebrate a genuinely international experiment.