Otto Mueller

Otto Mueller is considered the main representative of German Expressionism and a member of the artist group “Brücke”. In 1882 Mueller moved with his family to Görlitz. After leaving school early he completed an apprenticeship as a lithographer in 1890-94. From 1894-96 he studied with Prof. Eye at the Dresden Academy of Art and travelled with Gerhart Hauptmann to Switzerland and Italy. In 1898 he moved to Munich to study with Franz von Stuck, but soon gave this up again. He shares his studio with Paul Kother. In 1899 he returned to Dresden and met Maschka Meyerhofer, who became his favourite model and in 1905 his wife. In Dresden Marie Hauptmann set up a studio for him and a trip to Basel followed. In 1903-04 they maintained a lively exchange with Paul Kother, Carl Rade and Paula Modersohn-Becker. In 1908-09 they move to Berlin, where Mueller meets the artists Wilhelm Lehmbruck and Emil Orlik and gets to know Rainer Maria Rilke. They spend the summer on the Baltic island of Fehmarn. In 1910 Mueller’s entry is rejected by the Berlin Secession, so he joins the New Secession and joins the artists’ group “Brücke”. In 1911 he works together with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Hermann Max Pechstein in the latter’s Berlin studio. Further ventures with Kirchner in Mnischek and Erich Heckel on Fehmarn follow. At that time he also exhibited with artists of the ‘Blaue Reiter’. In 1912 Mueller travelled with Kirchner to Uniczek near Prague and in 1914 there was a solo exhibition at the Gurlitt Gallery in Berlin. In 1916-18 Mueller was finally called up for military service and in 1917 had to be treated in hospital in the meantime. In 1918 he finally returns to Berlin and in 1919 Paul Cassirer shows a solo exhibition. In 1921 the Goldschmidt and Wallerstein Gallery in Berlin organised an exhibition of his works. At the same time he divorces Maschka and marries Elsbeth Lübke in 1922. This relationship was to last only until 1927. In 1923 Mueller worked together with Erich Heckel at the Förde and spent the summers of 1924/25 in Dalmatia, Ragusa and Spalato. In 1927, after stays in Szolnok and Romania, Otto Mueller completes the Gypsy Portfolio, which culminates in an exhibition at the Neumann-Nierendorf Gallery in Berlin. Further trips to Paris, Bucharest and Bulgaria followed in 1928 and Mueller now lived with Elfriede Timm. An exhibition is held in Berlin at the Ferdinand Möller Gallery. In 1929 his lung condition worsened and in 1930 the artist had to take a cure before marrying Elfriede Timm. Another exhibition followed in 1930 at the Möller Gallery before Mueller died in Breslau on 24 September.