Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) was a group of artists secessioning in Munich, Germany in 1911, from the Neue Künstlervereinigung München.

Founder

Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, August Macke, Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin, Lyonel Feininger and others founded the group in response to the rejection of Kandinsky's painting Last Judgement from an exhibition by —another artists' group of which Kandinsky had been a member. Der Blaue Reiter lacked a central artistic manifesto, and was centred around Kandinsky and Marc. Artists Gabriele Münter and Paul Klee were also involved. Der Blaue Reiter was one of two groups of German painters fundamental to Expressionism, the other being Die Brücke, formed in Dresden in 1905.

Kandinsky's Der Blaue Reiter (1903).The name Der Blaue Reiter derived from Marc's enthusiasm for horses, and from Kandinsky's love of the colour blue. For Kandinsky, blue is the colour of spirituality—the darker the blue, the more it awakens human desire for the eternal (see his 1911 book On the Spiritual in Art). Kandinsky had also titled a painting Der Blaue Reiter (see illustration) in 1903.

Within the group, artistic approaches and aims varied from artist to artist; however, the artists shared a common desire to express spiritual truths through their art. They believed in the promotion of modern art; the connection between visual art and music; the spiritual and symbolic associations of colour; and a spontaneous, intuitive approach to painting. Members were interested in European medieval art and primitivism, as well as the contemporary, non-figurative art scene in France. As a result of their encounters with cubist and Rayonist ideas, they moved towards abstraction.

Exhibitions

Der Blaue Reiter organized exhibitions in 1911 and 1912 that toured Germany. They also published an almanac featuring contemporary, primitive and folk art, along with children's paintings. In 1913 they exhibited in the first German Herbstsalon.

The group was disrupted by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Franz Marc and August Macke were killed in combat. Wassily Kandinsky, Marianne von Werefkin and Alexej von Jawlensky were forced to move back to Russia because of their Russian citizenship. There were also differences in opinions within the group. As a result, Der Blaue Reiter was short-lived, lasting for three years from 1911 to 1914.

An extensive collection of paintings by Der Blaue Reiter is exhibited in the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich.

Members
Wassily Kandinsky
Franz Marc
August Macke
Paul Klee
Gabriele Münter
Alexej von Jawlensky
Heinrich Campendonk
Albert Bloch
Marianne von Werefkin
Lyonel Feininger