Article
Der Blaue Reiter [The Blue Rider] By Grimm, Dagmar
Article
Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) was an affiliated circle of artists of varying disciplines loosely organized by the visual artists Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc in 1911/12 in Munich.
The recognition of the spiritual undercurrents of the work of Der Blaue Reiter artists is reflected in their name: the oblique association of the “Blue Flower” of German Romanticism can be read as demonstrating the intentions of the founders in suggesting the link to their historical Romantic precursor, while the “Rider” points to their forward thrust and advocacy on behalf of modern art.
The origin of the name has not been reliably ascertained but is often linked to the title of a painting by Kandinsky of a horse and rider (1903), which was found to have been altered (possibly to suggest the link), and which was also negated in an explanation by Kandinsky himself.