Paula Modersohn-Becker

Introduction

Paula Modersohn-Becker is often seen as a pioneer of German Expressionism with her bold, aggressive brushstrokes and the strong colours seen in her later work. However, the work produced in the long stretches of time she spent in Paris show a strong affinity with the broader European artistic avant-garde, in particular Fauvism and Primitivism.

She had a fervent commitment to her art which led her to spend long, intense periods of time away from her home and husband, striving to further her artistic endeavours. During her short lifetime Modersohn-Becker produced over 400 paintings and 1,000 drawings and graphic works. She died suddenly from a heart attack in 1907 aged just 31.


Born: Born Paula Becker on 8th February 1876 in Dresden

Died: 21st November 1907 in Worpswede

Studied: Berlin School of Art, 1896-1898

Relationships:
Married Otto Modersohn on 25th May 1901.
Gave birth to a daughter, Mathilde, on 2nd November 1907.

Significant Works:
Worpswede Landscape, 1900
Poorhouse Woman with a Glass Bottle, 1906
Self-Portrait with Amber Necklace, 1906
Child with Goldfish Bowl, 1906
Self-Portrait with Camellia Branch 1907

           

Left image: Child With Goldfish Bowl (1906); right image: Worpswede Landscape (1900).

Life and Work

Paula Becker was born into a middle class family in 1876, her mother hailing from the aristocracy and her father a university lecturer. An artistic and intellectual environment was cultivated during her upbringing that fuelled the intensity with which she approached her art.

In 1888 she stayed with a relative in London where she attended art classes. She followed this with a two-year teacher training course in London from which her family hoped she would obtain a position as a governess. It was only after she had achieved this qualification that her parents agreed to fund her studies at the Berlin School of Art for Women.

Modersohn-becker first visitied the village of Worpswede in 1897 when she was still at the Berlin School of Art. It was in this small German village that she was to settle with her future husband Otto Modersohn and their friends in an artists' commune. The rural idyll of worpswede contributed to her love of nature and awe of the beauty of the local landscapes as shown in paintings such as Worpswede Landscape' (1900). The Worpswede style fell between two critical camps, being dismissed as too avant-garde for some conservative German writers, and being too backward-looking for those interested in the broader European artistic context.

In her biography of the artist, Gillian Perry describes how the young Paula Becker believed that marrying Otto Modersohn would not only be realisation of their mutual love for each other, but would also free her from parental pressure to be a governess. She believed that, once married, she would be free to pursue her art. Perry surmises that she believed a total commitment to her art would bring her both independence and fulfilment, an ambition sadly not realised as her comments on loneliness and marriage attest:

"The feeling of not being understood is heightened in marriage by the fact that one's entire life beforehand had the aim of finding a being who would understand one. But isn't it better to exist without such an illusion and look this great lonely truth straight in the eye?"

To continue striving for independence and artistic fulfilment she made three separate trips to Paris. The trips in 1903 and 1905 each lasted for several months, and the third and final trip to Paris lasted over a year from 1906-1907. She described her time in Paris as being, "the most intensely happy time of my life."

It was as a result of spending time with the Parisien avant-garde that her focus turned from the darker colours she had been using under her tutor Mackensen in Worpswede to using brighter colours, exploring the 'rough texture' of things and working towards a greater simplicity of form.

Becker seemed to predict that she would die prematurely in a diary entry in 1900; "I know I shall not live very long. But why is that so sad? Is a festival more beautiful because it lasts longer?"

This knowledge, she claimed, sharpened her senses, as if she should consume a lifetime of feelings in just a few short years. She painted several self-portraits with flowers during her last years, recalling her words in that same diary entry, "If I've painted three good pictures, then I shall leave gladly with flowers in my hand and in my hair."

'Self-Portrait with Camellia Branch', painted in 1907 is one such portrait where the highly stylised figure holds the branch of the Camellia shrub central to the picture frame.

During 1906 and 1907 she began to receive critical acclaim for her work. Then, on 21st November 1907, just 19 days after she had given birth to her daughter Mathilde, she had a thrombosis in her leg and suffered a fatal heart attack. 

Summary

Paula Modersohn-Becker is probably best known for her self-portraits and portraits of older women, but her fascination with nature and the elemental substance of things has informed a wealth of landscapes and still-lifes too.

Her single-minded commitment to her art practice despite the social pressures of the time to conform to a more typical gender role showed a remarkable resilience of mind and independence of spirit.  

Further Reading

If you found this page informative, please also feel free to take a look at the Paula Modersohn-Becker Quotes page for some interesting quotations from the artist about her life and her approach to art.

If you would like a bit more direction in choosing a book, then the list below includes some of the books I used when researching the artist.

Books

Averil King, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Antique Collectors' Club Ltd, 2009

Paula Modersohn-Becker (author), Gunter Busch and Liselotte von Reinken (eds), The Letters and Journals, Northwestern University Press, 1998.

Gillian Perry, Paula Modersohn-Becker: Her Life and Work, The Women's Press Limited, 1979.

For German Speakers...

There is a wealth of material available on Modersohn-Becker, but unfortunately most of it seems to be German, which I don't speak. If you are fortunate enough to be able to understand German, then the following may also be of interest:

Renate Berger, Paula Modersohn-Becker: Paris - Lieben Wie Im Rausch, Luebbe Verlagsgruppe, 2009.

Marina Bohlmann-Modersohn, Paula Modersohn-Becker: Eine Biographie Mit Briefen, btb Verlag, 2007.

Kerstin Decker, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Ullstein Taschenbuchvlg, 2009

Rainer Stamm, Ein Kurzes Intensives Fest: Paula Modersohn-Becker - Eine Biographie, Reclam Philipp, 2008

   
Poorhouse Woman with a Glass Bottle (1906)