MARIANNE VON WEREFKIN Pioneer of Expressionism at De Fundatie in Zwolle

Marianne von Werefkin, Zirkus von der Vorstellung, 1908, tempera on cardboard. Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren

Seeing her mother connect to the spiritual world while painting icons, it was no wonder Marianne von Werefkin (1860-1938) was inspired to become a painter herself. While studying with the famous realist painter Ilja Repin, she quickly proves to be very talented, or as Repin said, ‘She is the Russian Rembrandt’.

The exhibition of Marianne von Werefkin at De Fundatie in Zwolle starts with an intimate painting of Vera Repin knitting a child’s sock. It confirms that Ilja Repin was right in comparing her treatment of chiaroscuro to that of Rembrandt!

However, the self-portrait she makes a decade later shows that she is moving away from this academic style of painting more towards impressionism.

By that time she has also met Alexei von Jawlensky, an impoverished officer of modest talent who – as we know now – negatively influenced Von Werefkins artistic career during their 27-year-long relationship. However, at the time Von Werefkin is in love and together they move to the more modern Munich accompanied by her 9 years old servant Helene Nesnakomoff.

In Munich Von Werefkin decides to stop painting and for ten years she tries to promote and stimulate Von Jawlensky’s efforts as a painter. She keeps herself busy organising a Salon which quickly makes her the centre of the progressive group of artists, including Gabriele Munter, Wassily Kandinsky and dancer Alexander Sacharoff. She also experiments with paint and researches the new styles that are developing in those first years of the 20th century.

Apart from exploring the technical side of painting, she also theorised about the spiritual side of it. She entrusts her ideas to her diary (now known as Lettres a un Inconnu).

In the meantime the couple becomes close friends with Munter and Kandinsky, spending the long summer night discussing art. She shares with them her thoughts about spiritual aspects in art which results in Kandinsky writing his Über das Geistige in der Kunst. This book has made him famous, but is largely based on her ideas.

When Jawlensky is not as successful as she hoped him to be, she decides to pick up the brush again around 1906. Her new work is expressionist in nature and her paintings display vivid and vibrant colours. She has reinvented herself with a completely different style, one which also allows her to express her ideas about emotion in het art. As early as 1891 Werefkin wrote in her diary ‘The heart gets hold of the brush…. the art of the future is emotional art’.

Never letting go of the narrative, she tries to touch the viewers’ soul. Her paintings are mostly inhabited by the working class who are living the harsh and simple live. Often we see long winding roads, faceless peasants toiling away in a landscape of reds and greens. She uses dark lines and strong colours which draw you into the painting as well as into their lives.

Her own life hasn’t been easy because of the tumultuous and unfaithful relationship with Jawlensky. After their final break in 1921, she finds herself in Ascona on Lake Maggiore. Again, like in Munich, she becomes the cultural heart of the community of artist there and keeps producing wonderful works.

But as was often the case in those days, Jawlensky’s star kept rising and Von Werefkin was forgotten. Until now.

The Fundatie in Zwolle is the only museum in The Netherlands with just one of her works in the collection, which is enough to organise the first survey exhibition in The Netherlands. With important loans from abroad, the public gets a pretty good idea of her work throughout her career and will hopefully never forget the name Marianne von Werefkin.  Wendy FOSSEN  19th January 2025

MARIANNE VON WEREFKIN Pioneer of Expressionism continues at De Fundatie in Zwolle until 16th March