The Museum of Modern Art in Paris is showcasing a comprehensive retrospective of German artist Gabriele Münter (1877-1962) from April 4 to August 24, 2025, marking the first major monographic presentation of her work in France. The exhibition, titled "Gabriele Münter: Painting Without Detours," represents a significant milestone in recognizing an artist who has long been overshadowed by her association with Wassily Kandinsky and reduced to less than a decade of recognition despite her sixty-year career.
This retrospective continues the Paris Museum of Modern Art's dedicated cycle celebrating female pioneers of modern art with Parisian connections, following previous exhibitions of Sonia Delaunay (2014-2015), Paula Modersohn-Becker (2016), and Anna-Eva Bergman (2023). Originally planned for 2021 but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the exhibition finally materialized four years later through a partnership with the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, where an initial component was first presented.
Outside her native Germany, Münter has been primarily recognized at best as a pioneer of Expressionism, or at worst, merely as Kandinsky's companion, limiting public perception to a fraction of her extensive artistic output. This reductive view is evidenced by the sole previous French monographic exhibition held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Bordeaux twenty years ago, titled "Gabriele Münter, an Artist of the Blue Rider," as well as various group exhibitions that have featured selections of her work in recent decades.
The exhibition features significant works spanning Münter's career, including her "Portrait of Marianne von Werefkin" (1909) on cardboard measuring 81.2 x 55.2 cm from Munich's Lenbachhaus, and her "Self-Portrait" (circa 1909-1910) in oil on cardboard measuring 49 x 33.7 cm from the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid. Another notable piece is "The Blue Lake" (1954), an oil on canvas work measuring 50 x 65 cm from Linz's Neue collection.
Previous exhibitions that have included Münter's work at the Paris Museum of Modern Art include "Figures of the Modern: Expressionism in Germany" and "Fauvism or the Trial by Fire" in 1992 and 1999 respectively. More recent presentations featuring her work include "Modern Couples" at the Centre Pompidou Metz and "Franz Marc, August Macke: The Blue Rider Adventure" at the Musée de l'Orangerie from 2018-2019. This current retrospective aims to present a more complete picture of Münter's artistic legacy, moving beyond the limited scope of previous presentations to showcase the full breadth and significance of her contributions to modern art.
