Paula Modersohn-Becker

Paula Modersohn-Becker was a pioneering German painter and representative of early Expressionism. She was born in Dresden in 1876 under the name Paula Becker. She grew up in Bremen, where she also completed her school education. In the 1890s, the artist decided to pursue her passion and began training as a painter. At the end of the 1890s, Modersohn-Becker came to the Worpswede artists' colony for the first time, where she devoted herself entirely to creating art. She was a pupil of the German painter Fritz Mackensen and also met Otto Modersohn there. The artists of Worpswede had a strong influence on her work, which stood out from the beginning. She created model drawings, self-portraits, figure sketches, landscape drawings and still lifes. She depicted people in her surroundings as well as herself in a remarkably realistic and subtle way. She had particularly formative artistic experiences during several stays in Paris, commuting between Worpswede and the flourishing centre of artistic modernism. Works by Cézanne, Gaugin and van Gogh inspired Modersohn-Becker and French art became a special artistic experience for her. The intense colour palette and concentration on the essentials led to the development of her very own signature style. She married Otto Modersohn in 1901. Six years later, their daughter Mathilde was born. The artist died of an embolism just a few days after giving birth. Today, she is considered one of the most important pioneers of modern art. Today, her works are exhibited in renowned museums and galleries all over the world.