AN INTERRUPTED VOCATION

Paula Modersohn-Becker, a Pioneer of Expressionism

Her brushstrokes and a chromatic rendering, similar to those of Van Gogh, also paints a celestial vault similar to that above the cypresses of Saint-Rémy. Paula Modersohn-Becker, born in Dresden, was a revolutionary figure in the art scene of her time, so much so that her adoptive city, Bremen,has dedicated a museum to her. The Coopers’ Street is a famous street in that German city, converted into a museum street by the will of a coffee merchant. The street represents a characteristic example of brick expressionism, and is one of the main tourist attractions of the Hanseatic city. Entering one of those houses built around the 1920s in the Jugendstil style, you will discover that it houses a museum dedicated to the works of the expressionist painter Paula Modersohn-Becker. “Dying Mother“, in the Worpswede cemetery, a funerary monument by sculptor Bernhard Hoetger, houses the grave of Paula, who died shortly after the birth of her daughter, Mathilde. From a young age, Paula embraced the desire to become an artist, choosing to follow paths that challenged the academic canons of the 19th century. Why not celebrate his memory in a special way? Here is a first short poem, Solitude, by Rainer Maria Rilke, her friend, one of the greatest poets in the German language: “Loneliness is like rain. It rises from the sea toward evening; from the distant, distant plains, it rises toward the sky to which it has always belonged. And from the sky it falls back upon the city.” You noted in your travel journal that Bremen is a city with a fairy-tale atmosphere in its historic center. Marktplatz does not disappoint your expectations, but it is the Rathaus, a masterpiece of Gothic and Renaissance architecture, that excites you. The Roland Statue, a symbol of the city’s freedom since 1404, and the Bremer Stadtmusikanten, the famous bronze statue inspired by the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, instill in you the magic of the places you are observing. St. Peter’s Cathedral and Schütting, an elegant Flemish Renaissance building overlooking the square, pass before your eyes. You are in a hurry, you absolutely want to get to Böttcherstraße, a pedestrian street that is a masterpiece of expressionist architecture, with red brick buildings and a unique atmosphere. You wait for the Haus des Glockenspiels carillon to ring its 30 porcelain bells, you look at the rotating panels with images of famous sailors, then you enter the Paula Modersohn-Beckere Museum and you think the same things as Paula, one of the most famous German expressionist painters.

“This picturesque medieval quarter of Schnoor, a step back in time to the Middle Ages, is a maze of cobbled streets and colorful houses, once inhabited by fishermen and craftsmen. It’s perfect for a leisurely stroll, with craft shops, cafés, and art galleries,” you note in your travel journal. Paula refined her drawing technique in Berlin, where she studied at the Association for Women Artists. In parallel with her artistic research, her life was marked by strong passions and influential relationships, such as the one with the famous poet Rainer Maria Rilke. A pioneer among women painters, she was among the first to paint female nudes, alongside self-portraits, landscapes and still life. Her works explore revolutionary themes for the time. Paula’s approach to expressionism is manifested in her ability to convey moods with vigorous brush strokes. Her painting is characterized by intense colors, rather than by the representation of the essential, rather than on details. A central aspect of her creative vision is the representation of the female body. Through her self-portraits and nudes, in fact, Paula investigates the vulnerability, strength and inner complexity of women. Challenging the social conventions and modesty of the time, those nudes open a window onto the psychological and emotional dimension of female identity. We dedicate to Paula a second poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, God: “Do not wait for God to descend upon you and tell you: I am. That God who affirms his omnipotence has no meaning.” Discover that Schlachte, the promenade along the Weser River, a lively place with many bars, restaurants and beer gardens, ideal for drinking a coffee or a beer, gives you the opportunity to enjoy the right atmosphere for your next desires: visiting a windmill, the Mühle am Wall, and the Kunsthalle Bremen, the art gallery with a collection ranging from the 14th century to contemporary art, including masterpieces by Monet, Manet and Degas.

The simplicity of her figures, like that of the setting, captures bodies and objects close to stylization. In addition to the representation of the body, her works are imbued with a search for intimacy and spirituality, condensing a technique that anticipates Expressionism. Paula Modersohn-Becker‘s stays in Paris were crucial to her artistic development. There, studying at the Académie Colarossi and the Académie Julian, she came into contact with the works of Gauguin and Cézanne. This exposure pushed her to move beyond realism in favor of an expressionism based on formal essentiality and non-naturalistic chromatism. Her vision, which intertwined the corporeal and the sacred, made her an icon of emotional intensity and artistic experimentation. Paula’s personal life was as complex as her art. She married the painter Otto Modersohn in 1901, but their relationship was up and down. She felt that married life was not compatible with her artistic freedom. In 1906, in an act of independence that aroused disapproval among family and friends, she decided to leave her husband to settle in Paris and devote herself entirely to painting. It was during this period that she began to sign her work with her maiden name. How could I, the third poem by Rainer Maria Rilke that we dedicate to her, seems almost written for her: “How could I hold it within me, my soul, that yours does not touch; how could I lift it beyond you, to infinity?”

Her early twentieth-century expressionism, with dark and nuanced colors that retain warm and brown tones, uses oil and tempera colors. During the Nazi era, her work was considered degenerate art and, in 1937, around seventy of her paintings were confiscated from German museums. Her art became known in the United States in 1958, when a first exhibition was held at the Galérie St. Étienne. Her attention to the rural and primitive, combined with the sincere representation of the most intimate aspects of being, has helped position her art as a precursor of modern approaches and an existentialist sensibility in the visual arts. Paula was 31 when she died in childbirth at her home in Worpswede. The words of her husband, with whom she had returned to live in 1907, make clear the intensity of her feeling: “It is impossible to imagine what else would have been created if she had lived even longer.” If you find yourself in Bremen, do not miss the opportunity to visit the Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum, a tribute to a courageous woman and an innovative artist who challenged the conventions of her time, leaving an indelible mark on the history of 20th-century art. A fourth poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, Autumn Day, celebrates the ability of both to evoke deep emotions with delicate and powerful imagery: “Lord: it is time. The heat was great. Place your shadow on the sundials, release the wind over the plain.” Referring to her style and sensibility, Dastilige Nevante creates and merges digital images dedicated to Paula with the soundtrack “Psyche” by FiftySounds. Nevante investigates the vulnerability, strength and inner complexity of that woman, whose brush strokes and chromatic rendering even managed to paint a celestial vault similar to the one that overlooked the cypresses of Saint-Rémy painted by van Gogh.