Exhibition Notes & Curatorial Commentary
Alexej von Jawlensky was a Russian-born painter who became one of the most distinctive voices of European Expressionism. Born in Torzhok in 1864, he first pursued a military path before turning seriously to art in Saint Petersburg, where he studied in the orbit of Ilya Repin. A decisive change came after meeting Marianne von Werefkin, whose intellectual and financial support helped open the next stage of his career. In 1896 Jawlensky moved to Munich, studied with Anton Ažbe, and entered the modern circles that also included Wassily Kandinsky. There he absorbed international influences while developing a personal language built on intense color, simplified form, and emotional concentration. His work became closely associated with the avant-garde in Munich and with the wider Expressionist movement, including the orbit of Der Blaue Reiter. During and after the First World War he lived in Switzerland before settling in Wiesbaden in 1921. In 1924 he joined Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Lyonel Feininger in Die Blaue Vier. Late in life, severe arthritis limited his physical ability to paint, yet he continued pursuing spiritual depth through increasingly distilled images until his death in Wiesbaden in 1941. Today, he is remembered for transforming portraiture into a vehicle for inner vision.