Otto Mueller
1874 Liebau – 1930 Obernigk near Breslau
Short information about the artist
The painter and graphic artist Otto Mueller is considered one of the most important expressionists today. He belonged to the artist group “Die Brücke”.
More information about the artist
The painter and graphic artist Otto Mueller is considered one of the most important expressionists today. He belonged to the artist group “Die Brücke”.
Education
Otto Mueller was born in Liebau in the Riesengebirge in 1874. His artistic talent was soon discovered through an apprenticeship as a lithographer in Görlitz, which he began in 1890, after which he was able to attend the art academy in Dresden from 1894-96. From 1898 he continued his studies in Munich, but could not continue because the director of the academy, Franz von Stuck, refused to grant him permission. Back in Dresden, he met his future wife Maschka Meyerhofer, who became his preferred model.
Berlin
In 1908 he moved to Berlin. His model was now the sculptures of his artist friend Wilhelm Lehmbruck. During this time he began to paint the slim girl figures that are so characteristic of him today. The Two Girls in the Reeds also fall under this category. They also represent a central theme in Mueller’s work: the unity between man and nature, which he tried to express through nudes in landscapes.
The Brücke
After trying in vain to join the “Berlin Secession”, he founded the “New Secession” in 1910 with other rejected artists, which held an exhibition in May under the motto “Rejected from the Secession Berlin 1910”. Through this he made the acquaintance of the painters of the artist group “Brücke”. The “Brücke” painters turned away from the academically perfect rendering of nature: They simplified the forms and image surfaces and often only hinted at what was depicted. Although Mueller’s style was very similar to the other Brücke painters, he preferred a subdued color scheme with a lyrical, decorative effect.
He took part in the two outstanding “Brücke” exhibitions of this time: in 1910 in the Dresden gallery Arnold, in 1912 in the Berlin art dealer Fritz Gurlitt. At the same time, however, he also exhibited with the artists of the “Blaue Reiter”. Even after the artist group “Brücke” was dissolved, Mueller maintained contact and friendship with the former group members.
Professorship
After the First World War, which he experienced as a soldier in France and later in Russia, he was appointed professor at the Art Academy in Breslau in 1919, where he taught until his death in 1930. Today Otto Mueller is considered one of the most important German expressionists.