Otto Mueller

Polish-born German artist Otto Mueller, a founding member of the Die Brücke group, emerged during the German Expressionist movement. His works frequently depicted Romani women and nude figures, serving as a medium to delve into human nature and psychology amidst the pre-war era's political, social, economic, and existential upheavals.

Biography of Otto Mueller

Otto Mueller was born in Liebau, Kreis Landeshut, Silesia. He trained in lithography in Görlitz and Breslau from 1890 to 1892 and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden under Georg Freyer from 1894 to 1896. He continued his studies in Munich in 1898 but left the academy after Franz von Stuck deemed him untalented.

After moving to Berlin in 1908, the artist met Rainer Maria Rilke and Erich Heckel, who introduced him to the emerging Die Brücke group. In 1910, he joined Die Brücke and remained a member until the group's dissolution in 1913 due to artistic disagreements.

Though a pivotal member of the Die Brücke movement, Otto Mueller also exhibited alongside artists from Der Blaue Reiter. Known for his strong anti-bourgeois stance, Mueller is said to have scandalized a middle-class dinner party by urinating on their floor.

Mueller served in World War I and later became a professor at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Breslau, where he taught until his death. In 1937, seven years after his death, the Nazis labeled his work as Degenerate, and 357 of his pieces were removed from public German museums. They also confiscated Mueller’s artworks from Jewish collectors, such as the Littmanns. Many of the artist's works were lost or stolen during the war.

After World War II, the artist was reinstated in the art historical canon as a highly influential figure of the early twentieth century. Today, his works are held in major museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Albertina in Vienna, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others.

The Art of Otto Mueller

Otto Mueller was renowned for his lyrical approach to German Expressionism. His work often centered on the unity between humans and nature, characterized by a harmonious simplification of form, color, and contour. He is particularly noted for his distinctive paintings of nudes and Romani women, earning him the nickname "Gypsy Mueller," and his mother may have been Romani.

Mueller was deeply inspired by Egyptian art, drawing parallels between his use of simple, clean lines and ancient styles. He preferred distemper on coarse canvas for its matte finish. In printmaking, he created 172 prints, predominantly lithographs, with a few woodcuts and etchings.

The artist’s early works were influenced by Impressionism, Jugendstil, and Symbolism, though much of this early work was lost due to his own destruction of the pieces. Upon settling in Berlin in 1908, his style evolved into a more expressionist form.

In Die Brücke, unlike many in the group who used vivid, shocking colors, Otto Mueller was known for his muted, dark tones, flattened forms, and expressive lines. He often applied distemper to coarse canvas to create a grainy, matted surface.