Der Blaue Reiter.

Last class, amongst other things, we discussed Wassily Kandinsky and Der Blaue Reiter.  I found the last subject very interesting.

Der Blaue Reiter means "The Blue Riders" in Dutch and refers to a group of artists from Munich, Germany.  Two of founders were Kandinsky and Franz Marc.  The group formed after one of Kandinsky's paintings, The Last Judgement, was rejected from an exhibition.  The group name came from Kandinsky's painting shown below.

Der Blaue Retier, 1903

The Blue Rider's held a series of exhibitions from 1911 to 1914.  The individuals in the group had different design aesthetics and style, but all agreed upon a desire to express spirituality through their art.

Then, in 1923 four members of the original group reunited to form Die Blaue Vier, or the Blue Four.  There held a series of exhibitions during the following year.  


A collection of works from all the artists in the original Blue Riders was published in the Der Blaue Reiter Almanac.  


*This is Kandinsky's painting, The Last Judgement, that was rejected from the show.