Otto Mueller

Among his fellow Expressionist painters, Otto Mueller was a Romantic, a longing artist who conjured up a paradisiacal primal state in his paintings, in which man and nature are united in harmony. This is exemplified by the mostly female nudes, which merge with the landscape in an unforced and unconventional manner. Pale natural tones of Earth, Green, Grey-blue and dull Orange illuminate the sometimes sweeping, sometimes angularly contoured surfaces with quiet humility.

Otto Mueller

curriculum vitae

1874 born in Liebau in the Riesengebirge (Giant Mountains)
1890-1894 Apprenticeship as a lithographer in Görlitz
1894-1896 Studies at the Königliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Dresden
1896/1897 Travelling to Switzerland and Italy together with Gerhard Hauptmann
1899 Return to Dresden
1900-1903 Stay in the Riesengebirge (Giant Mountains)
1903/1904 Stay in Laubegast and Rockau near Dresden and friendship with Paula Modersohn-Becker
1905 Marriage to Maschka Meyerhofer
1906/1907 Stay in Mittel-Schreiberhau in Silesia
1908/1909 Moves to Berlin, where he becomes friends with Emil Orlik, Wilhelm Lehmbruck and Rainer Maria Rilke
1910 Founding and exhibition of the Neue Sezession Berlin, member of the artists' group Brücke
1911 in Berlin collaboration with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Max Pechstein
1912 Exhibition at the Kunsthütte Chemnitz
1914 Exhibition at the Galerie Gurlitt in Berlin
1916-1918 Conscription for military service in the First World War, armoured soldier, military hospital stay and Landsturm
1919 Exhibition at Paul Cassirer in Berlin
Appointment as professor at the Academy of Art in Wroclaw
1922 Marriage to Elsbeth Lübke
1930 Marriage to Elfriede Timm
died in Breslau
There is no sense of defiance or provocation in his paintings. They lack the vehemence and sensationalism, the ecstasy and excitement that characterised some of the works of his fellow artists at the time. (...) His poetic depictions retain a dreamy undertone, that lyrical element which, with its muted sensitivity, loves the quiet nuances.
Horst Jähner
Künstlergruppe Brücke, Berlin: Henschelverlag 1984

further exhibitions

1910 Galerie Arnold, Dresden (participation)
1912 Galerie Commeter, Hamburg (participation)
Kunstsalon Fritz Gurlitt, Berlin (participation)
1919 Kunstsalon Paul Cassirer, Berlin
1931 Galerie Ferdinand Möller, Berlin
Nationalgalerie, Berlin: »Gedenk-Ausstellung«
1947 Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden
1949 Galerie Franz, Berlin
1956 Kunsthalle Bremen
Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover
1957 Städtisches Kunstmuseum, Duisburg
1968 Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin
1969 Galerie Günther Franke, München
1974/1975 Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin
1976 Städtische Kunstsammlungen Augsburg: »Kunst der Brücke. Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik« (participation)
1990 Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin
1996/1997 Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig
1997 Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg
2003 Kunsthalle München: »Otto Mueller. Eine Retrospektive«
2004 Brücke-Museum, Berlin: »Auf der Suche nach dem Ursprünglichen. Mensch und Natur im Werk von Otto Mueller und den Künstlern der Brücke« (participation)
2006/2007 Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg
2008 Kunsthaus Apolda (Sammlung Karsch)
2012 Kunstsammlungen Zwickau
Kunsthalle Vogelmann, Heilbronn
Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg
2014/2015 Kunstmuseum Ravensburg
2015 Brücke Museum, Berlin
2015/2016 Kunsthalle Emden
2018 Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin
2018/2019 Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin
2024/2025 LWL-Museum für Kunst und Kultur, Münster
2025 Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin (participation)