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Marianne von Werefkin

* 1860, Tula 1938, Ascona

Marianne von Werefkin
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* 1860, Tula, 1938, Ascona

Marianne von Werefkin
Baroness Marianne von Werefkin was born in Tula, south of Moscow, in 1860. She died in Ascona in Switzerland in 1938. She received private tuition in drawing at the age of fourteen and in 1883 was taken on by Ilja Repin (1844-1929) as a private pupil. In 1892, through Repin, she met Alexej von Jawlensky (1864-1941), later her lover. She actively encouraged and promoted Jawlensky’s work, greatly to the detriment of her own painting. In 1896 she and Jawlensky moved to Munich where they became active members of the artistic community, running an informal artists’ salon to promote discussion and the exchange of ideas. In 1897, she founded the Brotherhood of St. Luke, an artists’ group that met at her apartment. Her early Expressionist works date from 1906. She was one of the founding members, in 1909, of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München [the New Munich Artists’ Association]. Later, in 1912, she was associated with the recently founded German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter [The Blue Rider]. When the First World War broke out Werefkin and Jawlensky moved to Switzerland and in 1918 settled in Ascona. They separated in 1922. Werefkin was a founding member in 1924 of the Ascona-based artists’ group Der Große Bär [The Large Bear]. In her later years she earned her living by painting posters. Shed died impoverished in Ascona in 1938.


(We are sorry, currently only the German version is available)

Wiesbaden, Museum Wiesbaden

Ascona, Fondazione Marianne Werefkin

Ascona, Museo comunale d’arte moderna

Ihre Gemälde und Kunstwerke befinden sich in vielen nationalen und internationalen Museen sowie in Privatsammlungen

(We are sorry, currently only the German version is available)

Bernd Fäthke, Marianne Werefkin, München 2001 Bernd Fäthke. Werefkin und Jawlensky mit Sohn Andreas in der „Murnauer Zeit“, in: AK 1908-2008. Vor 100 Jahren. Kandinsky, Münter, Jawlensky, Werefkin in Murnau, Murnau 2008 Norbert Göttler, Der Blaue Reiter, Reinbek 2008