Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Wieskirche, a stop on the Romantic Road. Johann Baptist also worked on Munich's St
Peterskirche and Schloss Nymphenburg. Both were members of the so-called Wessobrun-
ner School, which counted architect and stucco artist Josef Schmuzer among its founding
members. Schmuzer's work can be admired at Kloster Ettal and in the Alte St Martin-
skirche in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
THE 19TH CENTURY
Heart-on-your-sleeve Romanticism that drew heavily on emotion and a dreamy idealism
dominated the 19th century. Austria-born Moritz von Schwind is noted for his moody
scenes of German legends and fairy tales. His teacher, Peter Cornelius, was a follower of
the Nazarenes, a group of religious painters who drew from the old masters for inspira-
tion. There's a giant fresco of his in Munich's Ludwigskirche, although for the full survey
of Romantic art you should swing by the nearby Sammlung Schack.
Romanticism gradually gave way to the sharp edges of realism and, later on, the metic-
ulous detail of naturalism. Major practitioners were Wilhelm Leibl, who specialised in
painting Bavarian country scenes, and Hans Thoma, who joined Leibl in Munich, but fa-
voured the landscapes of his native Black Forest. Look for their works in Munich's
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus (when it reopens in 2013).
MUNICH SECESSION & JUGENDSTIL
During the 1890s a group of about 100 artists shook up the art establishment when they
split from Munich's
Künstlergesellschaft
(Artists' Society), a traditionalist organisation
led by portrait artist Franz von Lenbach. Secessionists were not linked by a common
artistic style, but by a rejection of reactionary attitudes towards the arts that stifled new
forms of expression. They preferred scenes from daily life to historical and religious
themes, shunned studios in favour of natural outdoor light and were hugely influential in
inspiring new styles.
One of them was Jugendstil (art nouveau), inspired by printmaking and drawing on
functional, linear ornamentation partly inspired by Japanese art. The term originated from
the weekly trendsetting art-and-literature magazine
Die Jugend,
published in Munich from
1896 until 1940. In Munich the Neue Pinakothek is the place to head for some fine ex-
amples of this most elegant of styles.
EXPRESSIONISM
In the early 20th century German artists looked for a purer, freer approach to painting
through abstraction, vivid colours and expression. In Bavaria the trailblazer was the artist
group
Der Blaue Reiter
(Blue Rider), founded by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc in
1911, and joined later by Paul Klee, Gabriele Münter and other top artists. The Städtische
