European Masters: Audioguide National Gallery of Victoria

Paula Modersohn-Becker was an important early Expressionist. She was a member of the Worpswede Colony, a group of artists that had retreated to the northern German countryside to paint landscapes.

The Städel Museum had amassed an incredible collection of Modern Art. However, under Nazi rule, the Städel’s collection was declared ‘degenerate’ and decimated.

The Bridge formed in Dresden in 1905. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a driving force of the group, which renounced earlier traditions of art.

Throughout last century, different groups of artists across Europe were experimenting with bold ideas and forms. Max Ernst was a Dadaist and Surrealist, and Paul Klee part of the Bauhaus movement.

The proto-Modernist movement, the Blaue Reiter group was interested in Cubism and Abstraction. It included Wassily Kandinsky and August Macke, Franz Marc, Alexej Jawlensky and Paul Klee.

Beckmann’s outlook and style were profoundly affected by his experience of World War I. His paintings are tense and angular, conveying his sense of disquiet and anxiety.