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Изкуството беше нейният живот, Кандински - нейната съдба

1902-ра. Габриеле Мюнтер, която всички наричат Ела, най-сетне е намерила своето място в света на изобразителното изкуство. И своя учител. Родена в Берлин, тя от ученичка знае, че рисуването е нейното предопределение. Но Берлин и близките не могат да й дадат нищо в търсенето на нови изразни средства. Целта е Мюнхен, групата "Фаланга" на модерни, експериментиращи творци. Там са новите майстори. Там е и руснакът Василий Кандински, геният. А какво по-добро от това да станеш ученичка на най-добрия? А какво по-вълнуващо, ако той те забележи и като жена?
1902-ра. Ела се чувства музата на гения. Получила е двайсет и пет страстни, обещаващи целувки... и разбира, че професорът е отишъл на гарата да посрещне съпругата си Аня от Русия. Съпругата, за която никой не е знаел.
1902-ра. Годината, в която Ела разбира, че се е влюбила безвъзвратно. В женен мъж. В неверен мъж.

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

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About the author

Mary Basson

4 books4 followers
Mary “Peetie” Basson serves as a Docent at the Milwaukee Art Museum that houses the largest collection of paintings by Gabriele Münter in North America. A gift of Mrs. Harry L. Bradley, the fourteen paintings by Münter form a cornerstone of the museum’s German Expressionist collection.
Immersed in researching the book, Basson learned to her horror that the Lenbachhaus, the museum to which Münter donated her trove of preserved Blue Rider works, was about to be closed for three years. Unwilling to miss seeing the artist’s hand at work in the museum installation, within hours, Basson had bought a plane ticket to Munich. In room after room at the Lenbachhaus, Basson encountered the splendors of the Blue Riders whose emotional depth and intellectual energy drew her to Münter in the first place. And luckily for her, at that very moment, a major retrospective of Kandinsky was being held just across the street, a retrospective that would later go on to show at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and at the Guggenheim in New York City.
From Munich, Basson traveled to Murnau to see Münter’s “yellow house” in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps. That house has been restored and opened to the public as a reminder of the courage of the artist and a representation of a brilliant moment in German art history.
For 39 years Peetie Basson taught Upper School English and served as an administrator at the University School of Milwaukee. She and her husband, Steve Basson, raised three sons on Milwaukee’s East Side. They now split their time between their Milwaukee home and their newly acquired pied-a-terre in Brooklyn, New York.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
Profile Image for Art.
551 reviews18 followers
August 4, 2014
The story of an art student who fell in love with her teacher followed by the artistic and personal challenges they presented to each other during their time, together and apart. Wassily Kandinsky lived with Gabriele Münter for many years but ultimately moved back to Russia and married someone else. The main story covered the twelve-year relationship, from 1902-1914. Münter and Kandinsky began as traditional painters before becoming pioneers in modern art and abstract expression.

Münter twice saved Kandinsky's works from the time they were together: once when German state agents came to confiscate his "degenerate" works and again when she gave them away late in life.

This book is billed as historical fiction. Mary Basson, speaking at her book event and signing in May, described it as "very close to the historical reality." The author's literate imagination fills in what we know about these two with scenes and dialogue.

Pairs well with Wassily Kandinsky and Gabriele Münter: Letters and Reminiscences 1902-1914, a nonfiction collection of photographs, art works and letters that brought the novel to life, although it arrived at my library branch too late to read it in parallel. Also pairs well with The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History. Münter successfully hid and therefore saved hundreds of works by Kandinsky at her house during World War II. Meanwhile, a more academic review of Münter-Kandinsky influence appears in Kandinsky: A Retrospective, the exhibition catalog that accompanies the hundred and thirty-five pieces displaying in Milwaukee and Nashville.

Mary Basson, the author, began serving as a docent at the Milwaukee Art Museum after teaching literature for forty years. As a docent, "Boating," painted by Gabriele Münter in 1910, caught Mary's eye and intrigued her. She wanted to know the story that the painting tells. That search led to research which led to the story, a five-year process.

"Boating" appears on the cover of the book: http://collection.mam.org/details.php... Kandinsky is the guy standing up while Münter rows the boat. MAM holds more of Gabrielle Münter's paintings than any other museum in North America. http://collection.mam.org/artist.php?...

Kandinsky: A Retrospective, runs for the summer at MAM. http://mam.org/kandinsky/ . During the three-month exhibition, a July event presented a dramatic reading of letters between Münter and Kandinsky, http://mam.org/calendar/events/index.... … Nashville's Center for the Visual Arts will host the exhibition from September to January. http://fristcenter.org
Profile Image for Nina Draganova.
1,181 reviews73 followers
December 29, 2021
Любопиството ми е това, което ме кара , пак да опитам някоя книга от поредицата , която издават Емас. Да науча за живота на някои от най-прочутите творци. Не са увлекателно написани, да му се не знае. Нещо не ме грабват, поне по-голямата част от тях. Да, много е трудно да събереш информация за живота на който и да било, признавам. Но това не е достатъчно.
Не знам дали написаното отговаря на действителността, но ако е така, жалко че такива гиганти в изкуството и преди това в литературата, не постъпват по най-човешкия начин. За мен това винаги ще бъде първото , по което да приемам хората или не. Не мога да се възхищавам на някой, ако знам , че е постъпил не по мъжки с която и да е жена.
Profile Image for alinem.
14 reviews
June 27, 2025
4.5 ⭐️ Ich liebe Romanbiographien!
Profile Image for Marisa Fernandes.
Author 2 books49 followers
April 2, 2021
"Die Malerin" [A Pintora] de Mary Basson, originalmente escrito em língua inglesa com o título "Saving Kandinsky" centra-se na figura de Gabriele Münter, uma pintora do Expressionismo alemão e fotógrafa, que salvou os quadros de Wassily Kandinsky e do movimento Blaue Reiter [cavaleiro azul] de cairem nas mãos do Nacional-Socialismo e serem destruídos.

Após vários anos de ligação amorosa a Kandinsky, de quem também tinha sido aluna, Münter recusou-se a devolver os quadros pintados pelo próprio, quando o advogado deste lhe comunica a decisão do pintor não querer mais encontrar-se pessoalmente com ela (e se ter casado com outra mulher, entretanto). Isto passou-se sensivelmente após a Primeira Guerra Mundial. Aliás, foi a Guerra e o facto de ser russo que o levou a deixar a Alemanha.

Apesar da depressão e de praticamente ter deixado de pintar, na sequência desta "descoberta" Münter acaba por recuperar e torna-se uma fiel guardiã (juntamente com o homem com quem vive Johannes Eichner, um historiador de arte) desses quadros de Kandinsky até (quase) ao fim da sua vida. Aos oitenta anos, Münter decide doar tudo à Städtische Galerie na Lenbachhaus em Munique.

A história de Gabriele Münter é muito bonita e este livro tem passagens incrivelmente bem escritas para quem for um admirador de arte e da pintura em particular. O que mais me impressionou na vida de Münter, de quem nunca tinha ouvido falar apesar de ser fã de Kandinsky desde os meus 16 anos, foi a devoção que esta dedicou aos quadros do pintor (e num certo sentido ao próprio pintor) mesmo após a separação. Se não fosse ela, muitos dos quadros que hoje conhecemos e contemplamos talvez não existissem...
Profile Image for Susan Liston.
1,566 reviews50 followers
August 27, 2016
Another of those books I feel mean picking on, as it was clearly a labor of love by the museum docent who wrote it. And it's not bad, per se, just a bit dullsville and YAish. I'm sure she felt that the story of the artist Gabriele Munter and her love affair with and abandonment by her mentor Wassily Kandinsky would make for riveting fiction. Well, she was his student, he was married, they had a twelve year affair, WWI broke out and he had to flee Germany as he was Russian...while in Russia he divorced his wife but married someone else and dumped Gabriele. She didn't know for years if he was alive or dead, until he had his lawyer write to her and demand his artwork in her possession be returned. We never get inside his head at all, he remains a cypher,(and sort of a dick) the story is told entirely from her perspective, and far too often she comes off as just sort of wimpy. Until the end when she saves his and others artworks from the Nazis by hiding them in her basement. I already knew this, so I didn't really learn much that was new. It did make me want to read more detailed biographies so that's something.
Profile Image for Kerstin Gallas.
215 reviews7 followers
April 12, 2019
Das Buch war nett aber ohne große Spannung oder Höhepunkte. Das klang im Klapptext anders - 2 große Künstler, eine Liebe, die Frauenrolle in der Kunst usw. Alles plätscherte vor sich hin. Der Stil war angenehm, ich hatte aber anderes, besseres erwartet.
Profile Image for Lisbeth Tischbein.
282 reviews30 followers
May 23, 2022
Ja also es war ok. Nicht mehr und nicht weniger. Die Geschichte war eigentlich spannend, aber irgendwie plätscherte alles nur so dahin. Ich hab mir mehr Dramen und Emotionen erwartet. Es war angenehm zu lesen, aber wirklich viel Mehrwert werde ich nicht mitnehmen...
Profile Image for Elizabeth.
1,211 reviews
July 28, 2019
Not worth it. I found it used but I’m pretty sure it was a print on demand book. Since it’s not carried by the bookstore of the museum the docent worked, I think that tells a lot.
967 reviews7 followers
June 15, 2022
I had to buy the book for THE COLUMBUS ART MUSEUM BOOK CLUB.If anyone wants to borrow it let me know. It was hard to get ahold of.

Here’s my second review as I accidentally erased the first. AGAIN🤬I enjoyed reading this art book as I knew nothing about the two artists. I googled the paintings as the book did not have illustrations.I LOVE THEM! The art museums lecture added much to the understanding of this type of art. Good choice,!
83 reviews
May 8, 2019
This was a most interesting book to read, especially if you are interested in Gabriele Münter and Wassily Kaminsky. I read it in German, not immediately recognizing that it was originally written in English. I was familiar with both artists, having visited their home in Murnau and of course through their art. But I wasn't quite aware of what Gabriele Münter went through. Her passionate relationship with Kandinsky was a real roller coaster, especially after he went back to Russian during the first World War, as in Germany he was deemed "the enemy". After living decades with Münter and having promised her marriage, something happened that devastated her. She had assumed him dead, when after a while she no longer heard from him. Then after 5 years she got a letter from a lawyer stating that "Kandinsky and his wife" demanded that she send back the pictures from Kandinsky that she was storing. What a cad. She became severely depressed. Then under the Nazis she hid his pictures risking her life. The book was good reading and I had the feeling I was right there experiencing all this! Now I need to read a biography about Kandinsky and see how this information matches up, especially since this book was a novel based on her life.
679 reviews4 followers
June 13, 2014
I read this book mainly because Mrs Basson was my high school English teacher!! WAY TO GO, Mrs Basson!! Here is my question though -- why the novel format when this is very close to being a straight biography? But it was very interesting to learn about Gabriele Munter, and I am going to have to hit the Milwaukee Art Museum the next time I'm home. I finished this book on the train to NYC and saw a pretty awesome Kandinsky at the Neue Galerie the same day.
888 reviews1 follower
October 6, 2019
Interesting Historical Fiction:
It appears to be very closely based on facts. This is the story of Gabriella Muenter, a contemporary of Kandinsky, his mistress and an artist in her own right. She ends up with a number of his works which she saves from the Nazis in WW2, but the majority of the book deals with the relationship with Kandinsky, her art and the problems of being a female artist in a world that doesn't recognise your talent. I enjoyed it immensely.
Profile Image for Lisa-Marie .
116 reviews
August 5, 2020
Ich liebe dieses Buch! Jedem ist der Name Kandinsky ein Begriff aber die Geschichte von Gabriele Münter so aufzugreifen und die helfende und auch rettende Hand hinter der Kunst des Malers publiker zu machen...wahnsinn😊 ich konnte das Buch nicht mehr aus der Hand legen!
Dieses Buch kann ich jedem empfehlen der Interesse an Kunst und deren Geschichte hat.
Profile Image for tination.
156 reviews4 followers
April 28, 2018
Roman mit viel Liebe zur Kunst

Das Buch: Hier dreht sich alles um das Leben von Gabriele Münter. 1902 entschließt sie sich, Malerin zu werden. Sie geht in die Lehre bei dem berühmten Maler Wassily Kandinsky in München. Und wird schnell seine Muse und Gefährtin. Doch Gabriele will mehr als nur Bilder malen. Sie möchte ihre Liebe heiraten. Der Maler zögert. Und dann kommen noch die zwei Weltkriege dazwischen. Werden diese beiden doch noch zusammenfinden?

Das Fazit: Eine große Romanze ist hier nicht zu erwarten. Wenn man sich in der Kunstszene auskennt, weiß wie die Liebe der beiden Maler enden wird. Denn diese Personen haben tatsächlich gelebt. Die Autorin schafft es, einen Roman um die Figur Gabriele Münter zu spinnen, ohne dabei zu viel in den Kitsch abzurutschen. Auch macht dieses Buch Lust, sich in der Kunst weiter zu belesen. Die Biographien zu einigen Personen, die in diesem Buch erwähnt werden, habe ich im Anschluss gegoogelt.

Das Buch dreht sich voll und ganz um die Malerin Gabriele Münter. Mit all ihrem Leid in einer Zeitspanne von einem halben Jahrhundert. Sie ist sehr emanzipiert und lebt ihr Leben. Nur mit der Liebe hat sie es nicht so einfach. Kandinsky scheut sich, sich offiziell mit ihr zu zeigen. So bleibt sie nur seine Gefährtin. Lange bleibt Gabriele nur für die Hoffnung auf die große Liebe zu Kandinsky am Leben. Ja fast schon naiv verhält sie sich ihm gegenüber. Sie weiß, welche Bedeutung die Malereien Kandinskys für die Kunst sein werden. Nie kommt sie ganz von ihm los. Viel Hoffnung, Verzweiflung, Neuanfang treiben Gabriele Münter voran.

Als alles ausweglos erscheint, hilft ihr nur noch die Malerei. Denn sie ist eine leidenschaftliche Malerin und steht Kandinsky in nichts nach. Mit eigenem Stil wurde auch sie berühmt in der Kunstszene. Und auch im Buch werden diese verschiedenen Stimmungen Gabrieles über ihren Drang zur Malerei abgebildet. Trotzdem bleibt sie damit immer am Rande der Gesellschaft. Außerhalb der Kunstszene wird sie nicht anerkannt. Denn eine unverheiratete Frau die malt – wo gibt es denn so etwas in der Zeit um 1910?

„Andere junge Frauen bewegten sich sicher und elegant und wurden zum gesellschaftlichen Mittelpunkt. Ella stolperte am Rand herum.“ Seite 57

Sprachlich ist das Buch leider einen Tick zu einfach gehalten. Viele kurze Sätze beschreiben die Lage. Es fühlte sich so an, dass dies bewusst geschah, um eine breitere Masse an Lesern anzusprechen. Denn ein Buch über eine Malerin könnte durchaus abschrecken.

Jedenfalls wurde „Die Malerin“ mit viel Herzblut geschrieben. Es scheint, als hätte die Autorin wirklich eine Liebe zu den Gemälden von Frau Münter entdeckt. Auch das Setting ist real, vieles (Personen, Orte, Häuser, Ereignisse) kann man einfach nachgoogeln.

Zusammenfassend ist es ein leichtes und lockeres Buch über eine Malerin, die sich am Anfang des Jahrhunderts in der Männerwelt durchsetzen konnte. So viel Emanzipation muss schon sein.

https://commigratio.com/2018/01/17/ma...
Profile Image for Eva Hechenberger.
1,337 reviews19 followers
June 16, 2018
Das Buch habe ich eher zufällig gesehen, aber ich fand den Klappentext und auch das Cover ganz ansprechend, sodass ich mich entschlossen habe die Geschichte zu lesen.

In diesem Buch wird das Leben der Malerin Gabriele Münter verarbeitet. Man erlebt sie über einen längeren Zeitraum und darf ihre Entwicklung begleiten. Angefangen in der Jugend und wie sie sich in den Maler Kandinsky verliebt, bis hin zu den Zeiten, als die Nazis die Kunst des Malers zerstören wollen und Gabriele doch eine große Portion Mut aufbringen muss.

Persönlich fand ich die Handlung in dem Buch ganz unterhaltsam, denn es war sehr interessant zu sehen, ob die Liebe zwischen den beiden ein Happy End bekommen wird oder nicht. Natürlich wissen Kundige des Genres wahrscheinlich, was passieren wird, aber für mich als Neuling war es dann ganz interessant. Selbstverständlich kann ich den Namen Kandinsky, aber sein Privatleben war mir nicht geläufig.
Auch waren natürlich die Abschnitte über das Malen sehr interessant, denn es werden immer mal wieder bekannte Werke erwähnt. Der historische Aspekt empfand ich als sehr realistisch von der Autorin beschrieben, denn sie gibt dem Leser doch sehr gut Einblicke in das damalige Leben bzw. die Lebensweise der damaligen Menschen.

Die Handlung nimmt gegen Schluss so einiges an Fahrt auf und es wird richtig spannend, denn man will ja wissen, was mit den Bildern des Malers passiert. Allerdings würde ich sagen, dass die Geschichte generell eher ruhig verläuft und es eigentlich keinen Höhepunkt gibt.

Die Charaktere empfand ich eigentlich alle ganz interessant und toll beschrieben. Besonders authentisch fand ich Gabriele und ich habe dann doch auch abschnittsweise mit ihr mitgelitten, denn sie hatte es ja nicht so leicht.

Die Schreibweise war sehr flüssig und hat sich doch auch sehr gut lesen lassen. Die Geschichte wird aus Gabrieles Perspektive erzählt. Die Handlung ist sehr gut verfolgbar, denn alles war wunderbar verständlich.

Das Cover finde ich richtig toll, denn der Verlag hat ja alle die Bücher, die jetzt hier ähnliche Themen behandeln so entworfen und es gefällt mir richtig gut.



Zur Autorin:
Mary Basson arbeitet im Milwaukee Art Museum, das die größte Gabriele-Münter-Sammlung Nordamerikas beherbergt. Münters Malerei faszinierte sie so sehr, dass sie sich auf die Spur ihrer Geschichte begab und nach München und zum Gelben Haus in Murnau am Fuße der Alpen reiste.

Quelle: Verlag


Fazit:
4 von 5 Sterne. Unterhaltsamer Roman. Gabrieles Geschichte war sehr interessant und ich kann euch das Buch wirklich weiterempfehlen.
Profile Image for dubh.
361 reviews
January 7, 2018
Die Rettung Kandinskys

Die junge Ella verliebt sich beim Malen in der bayerischen Natur in ihren Lehrer, den verheirateten Wassily Kandinsky. Zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts kann eine solche Verbindung nur die Missbilligung der Gesellschaft erregen - doch Ella und Wassily sind nicht nur Lebensgefährten, sondern sie zeigen gemeinsam mit Franz Marc und anderen Künstlern des Blauen Reiters der Welt eine neue Kunstform.
Doch der erste Höhenflug und die berauschende Freude hält nicht ewig an - schon gar nicht mit den politischen Veränderungen in Europa. Doch die dunkelste Zeit, die pure Ernüchterung, folgt mit den Nationalsozialisten, die den Expressionismus als "entartete Kunst" verunglimpfen. Aber es wird auch Gabriele Münters Stunde: sie nimmt all ihren Mut zusammen und engagiert sich mit all ihren Möglichkeiten für die Kunst. Ella wird Kandinsky retten...

Die Stärke der Autorin ist die gut recherchierte Darstellung der Ursprünge des deutschen Expressionismus' und ganz besonders der Künstlervereinigung Der Blaue Reiter. Mich hat dabei vor allem das Leben und die Kunst von Gabriele Münter interessiert, denn auch wenn sie sich - in einer Zeit, in der Frauen kaum ein selbstbestimmtes Leben zugestanden wurde - einen eigenen Namen als Künstlerin gemacht hat, ist sie gleichzeitig wohl auf ewig mit Kandinsky verbunden. Ironischerweise wurde sie nach etlichen Beziehungsjahren nicht seine zweite Ehefrau, was Ella zum Glück nicht davon abhielt, seine Werke für die Welt zu retten. Mary Basson schildert das Leben der beiden, was alleine durch die korrekte Einbettung in die historischen Fakten eindringlich daherkommt. Verstärkt wird dies noch mit dem sehr detaillierten Blick auf Gabriele Münter - ihre Zweifel, Unsicherheiten und Ängste stellt die Autorin glaubhaft dar.

Allerdings hätte das Buch vor allem zu Beginn mehr Schwung vertragen können, denn die Beziehung zwischen Ella und Wassily kommt etwas farblos daher. Ich bin mir sicher, dass ihre jahrelange Beziehung, die sie entgegen all der Konventionen gelebt haben, ziemlich leidenschaftlich war - nicht ohne Grund war Ella sehr verletzt, als Kandinsky plötzlich jeden Kontakt zu ihr verweigert hat.
Mit Ellas mutiger Mission nimmt auch das Buch Fahrt auf und zeigt das Leben einer außergewöhnlichen Frau, die über sich hinauswächst.
Profile Image for Helen.
1,195 reviews
March 5, 2017
Saving Kandinsky is the story of German expressionist painter Gabriele Munter, told in the context of her relationship with Wassily Kandinsky, who was her teacher and lover. It made a fascinating follow-up to "Georgia," the book I just finished about Georgia O'Keeffe, which tells her story through the lens of her relationship with Alfred Stieglitz. Like "Georgia," "Saving Kandinsky" is a novel based on actual events and covering some of the same time period, beginning before World War I.

Munter was a talented artist in her own right, who blossomed under Kandinsky's teaching. They lived and traveled together for about 12 years while Kandinsky was still married to his first wife. He finally got divorced, but was forced to return to Russia by the outbreak of World War I. When he didn't reply to her letters, Munter thought he was dead, but he had actually married someone else, which Munter learned from a letter from Kandinsky's lawyer demanding paintings left with her. She became seriously depressed and stopped painting for years, but she refused to part with most of the paintings, putting them in storage. When the Nazis condemned Kandinsky and other "degenerate" painters, she hid the paintings (the canvasses removed from their stretchers and rolled up to fit in a smaller space) at her home outside Munich. That part of the book is great--kept me reading past bedtime to finish. On her 80th birthday, she donated her entire collection--about 80 oil paintings and 330 drawings by Kandinsky and others who were part of the "Blue Rider" expressionist movement--to the Lenbachhaus museum in Munich. I would love to visit and see them for myself.

I discovered this book through a fellow traveler at a Road Scholar program. When I mentioned that I was training to become a docent at an art museum, she said "maybe you'll write a book like Mary Basson did." It turns out that Basson was a docent at the Milwaukee Art Museum, which has the largest U.S. collection of Munter's works. In learning about those works, Basson became fascinated with Munter's story and "Saving Kandinsky" is the result.

You can link to some of the works mentioned in the book here: http://savingkandinsky.com/galerie#

Profile Image for Shenay Kabilova.
27 reviews5 followers
October 16, 2024
Скоро не бях попадала на книга с толкова приятен изказ. Бих описала книгата като увлекателна, леко меланхолична, а героите в нея - свободомислещи и модерни за времето си.

Историята проследява живота на Габриеле(Ела) Мюнтер, тласкана между любовта ѝ към изкуството и любовта ѝ към професор Василий Кандински. Ела е наивното момиче с големи мечти, странна птица в обществото, искаща да намери своето място сред големите имена в средите на изкуството, но подценявана от мъжете. На мен лично неговият образ ми беше потискащ и нарцистичен към Ела - като жена и като художничка. А тя, преживяла любовно разочарование, войни, емоционални катаклизми, успява да съхрани неговото творчество до края на живота си.
В крайна сметка, след отминалите години на младостта ѝ, тя намира пристан в лицето на Йоханес, поне така да се надявам.
Profile Image for Claudia Stadler.
913 reviews10 followers
November 18, 2019
Das Buch "Die Malerin" wurde von Mary Basson verfasst und erschien 2017 im Aufbau Verlag.

Der Autorin gelingt es mit großem Wissen und Detailreiche ein kleines Meisterwerk zu schaffen, dass einem in die damalige Zeit mitreißt, in eine Zeit, wo Frauen als Künstler nicht wirklich viel geschafft haben. Die Sichtbarkeit der Künstlerinnen mehr als gering war. Auch die Liebschaften und Partnerschaften und deren Auswirkungen auf die Künstlerin werden beleuchtet.
Die Wortwahl und der Sprachstil sind mehr als glaubwürdig und gut gemacht. Man kann mit Hilfe dieses Buches tatsächlich in der Geschichte zurückreisen und Geschichte erleben.

Jeder, der Geschichte einmal etwas anders erleben möchte, ist mit dem Buch bestens beraten.
27 reviews
May 27, 2020
Die Geschichte von Gabriele Münter und ihrer Liebe zu Kunst und zu Kandinsky.
Absolut grandios. Man weiß immer viel über den Künstler Kandinsky aber über seine Muße eher weniger. Das Buch zeigt tiefe Einblicke in das Leben der beiden. Mich hat vorallem begeistert, bei der Entstehung vieler heute bekannter Werke dabei zu sein. Man erfährt viel über die damalige Zeit. Was alles im Krieg passierte und wie Ella zur Heldin wurde, als sie die Werke der vielen berühmten Maler, Gründer vom blauen Reiter, vor den Nazis rettete. Kleiner Tipp schaut euch während dem Lesen parallel die passenden Bilder an. Lest es! Die ganze Reihe über die missverstanden Frauen die im Schatten der Männer lebten ist beeindruckend und sehr lehrreich.
248 reviews2 followers
July 2, 2024
Gabriele (Ella) Münter is a German student of Kandinsky’s. They fall in love, and he promises to marry her once he divorces his wife. He strings her along for 12 years. In 1914, during the war, they are separated, and he never returns or writes to her. She goes into a state of shock, but heals with the help of her sister. She meets another man in 1927, and they become partners until the end of her life. During WWII, Kandinsky’s art is considered a “threat” to the Reich. She hides tons of paintings done by him that she is in possession of. At the end of the novel, she is awarded for her contribution.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Mandy.
294 reviews
February 5, 2018
Mein erstes Highlight im noch jungen Lesejahr 2018 kommt von Mary Basson: "Die Malerin" ist ein durchaus biografisches Porträt der Künstlerin Gabriele Münter, deren Liebe zu Übermaler Wassily Wassiljewitsch Kandinski zeitlebens Fluch und Segen zugleich war. Sprache wie auch Handlung konnten mich in diesem Roman durchweg begeistern. Einzig einen visuellen Abriss zu den meist am Kapitelende aufgeführten Besprechungen ihrer und auch seiner Werke hätte ich mir gewünscht, um das Lesen zwecks Internetrecherche nicht unterbrechen zu müssen.
Profile Image for Alhena.
276 reviews
December 16, 2018
Compré este libro en la Lenbachhaus (después de visitar el museo) y... me ha costado terminarlo. El libro es interesante ya que recoge la vida de Gabriele Münter, pero hay partes muy muy pesadas de leer. La "descripción" de alguna de las obras que se intercalan entre los capítulos lo hace más llevadero, aún así, los personajes no me han dicho nada, a veces en la historia se sale de la línea argumental y no sabes ni de qué están hablando... Una pena, creo que se podía haber aprovechado mucho más y llegar a ser una novela entretenida a la vez que didáctica.
Profile Image for Mousie.
116 reviews1 follower
January 22, 2023
Absolutely extraordinary!

This book is outstanding for so many reasons - as a perceptive chronicle of the life and times of some great artists, as a sensitive account of the thoughts and feelings of Gabriele Munter, and for getting to the core of what it means to be an artist. It seems incredible that it wasn't actually written by Gabriele herself.
Profile Image for jaroiva.
2,068 reviews56 followers
March 14, 2023
Moc mi nevyhovoval styl psaní, ale jinak je knížka zajímavá. Myslela jsem, že se dozvím něco o Kandinském, ale nakonec jsem objevila zajímavou malířku (Gabriele Münter), o které jsem dosud neslyšela. Hodně hledání na internetu znamená, že mi čtení trvalo delší dobu, ale stálo to za přečtení. Kniha, která mi něco dala.
112 reviews1 follower
October 29, 2023
Ich kannte Christine Münter nicht, bevor ich diese Romanbiographie gelesen habe.
Während des Lesens habe ich viel gegoogelt, nach Orten, Begebenheiten, Kunstwerken die während der Zeit entstanden sind.
Dieser Roman hat den Wunsch in mir geweckt, diese Orte aufzusuchen und noch mehr über diese starke Frau und die Zeit zu erfahren, in der sie gelebt hat.
Profile Image for Melanie.
30 reviews
November 21, 2024
Bis jetzt mein liebstes Buch dieser Serie. Ich fand es fundamentaler und weniger flach als die anderen, die ich bisher gelesen habe. Während andere bekannte Frauen komplett auf ihre Beziehungen reduziert wurden, lag der Fokus hier vor allem auf der Arbeit von Gabriele Münter. Es gab sogar Zwischenkapitel mit Bildbeschreibungen ihrer Werke.
Profile Image for TBV (on hiatus).
307 reviews70 followers
Read
August 2, 2019
Twenty five kisses were all it took for Ella to believe that Professor K was as much in love with her as she was with him and that he would marry her, but then she is introduced to Miss Chimiakin, his wife. "But what was she to do with the stone inside her? What pocket in her skirt could contain it?" However Ella's interest in both art and the professor, Wassily Kandinsky, compel her to return to the art school. And thus starts a love affair which was to last for many years. "What she loved above everything was the way he spoke to her directly and without condescension. He treated her as though she could set her own goals and solve her own problems."

I liked the characterisation of Ella, the artist Gabriele Münter. We follow her through her pain, passion and accomplishments. There is much pain as well as passion, but there are also lighter moments enjoyed with her friend and fellow student, Olga. There is the shock when they see their first female nude model, but also the hilarious scene where they visit the Alte Pinakothek to psych themselves up for the forthcoming sitting of a male nude, as "Yet, to come to class on Monday was to cross a border into the strangest country in the world." But once Ella becomes absorbed in her creation, "The flowering of his manliness was no more to her than a rosebud among leaves."

I also love the way that Kandinsky compares music to art: "A composer’s idea doesn’t stay his own.” “Orchestra, instrumentalist, singer— it doesn’t matter the piece. The performer transforms the idea.” “The composer leaves directions— adagio , crescendo, etcetera— and then the performer executes the idea. It’s a collaboration between them.” “But the painter has the entire responsibility. He conceives the idea, but he must also interpret it. He does not give the impression of the subject so much as the expression of himself.”

Composition 6, 1913

There are many quotable lines which I have bookmarked, but to include them here will spoil the story for other readers, as will further analysis, so suffice to say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel even though the Kindle edition is marred by several typographical errors.
Profile Image for Marlena.
38 reviews4 followers
April 18, 2019
ein sehr schönes buch mit bezügen zur kunst des frühen 20. jahrhunderts 😊
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