In the spring of 2025, Kunsthal Rotterdam will present a comprehensive overview of the work of the German expressionist painter and member of Die Brücke Max Pechstein (1881-1955). Pechstein’s dynamic and colourful compositions had a major impact on the development of the visual language of expressionism. Inspired by his travels to places like the Prussian villages of Nidden and Leba, and to the Palau Islands, Pechstein’s work reveals his ongoing pursuit of a harmonious relationship between human beings and nature. His work reflects on an era of radical changes in Europe, including the repression of his own art under the Nazi regime. On the basis of over fifty paintings, as well as engravings, wood carvings, drawings, photographs, and some of the artist’s personal belongings, the Kunsthal showcases Max Pechstein’s wide-ranging body of work while also offering you an insight into his personal life.
Die Brücke
In the late nineteenth century, Max Pechstein started his career as a decorative painter in Zwickau, and later moved to Dresden to study at the Royal Art Academy. In 1906 he joined Die Brücke, an influential art movement that also counted artists like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Emil Nolde among its members. The name Die Brücke, i.e. ‘the bridge’, is symbolic for the artists’ ambition to build a bridge towards a new type of art, free from the established norms of academic art. Pechstein’s early work, including the oil painting Girl in the Woods (1910), shows how, in painting, realistic depictions of reality are making way for vivid colours, raw-edged, expressive brushstrokes, and formal experiments.
Longing for nature
As an artist, Pechstein was always in search of harmony, a pursuit that is reflected in both his choice of subjects and use of colour. His concept of harmony was closely linked to the relationship between human beings and nature. Among other things, Pechstein found inspiration in his trips to the East Prussian fishing village of Nida (Nidden), where he stayed for long periods of time. This picturesque village is known for being one the oldest art colonies in Europe. Just like many other artists, Pechstein regarded this place as a little piece of paradise and found inspiration in its natural surroundings. The fishing village of Leba, located in what was formerly Prussia, was also regularly depicted in his work. While staying there, Pechstein painted the port, fishing boats, and fishermen in vibrant colours. Later on in his career he made Evening at Leba Port (1951), a painting that almost seems to radiate light due to the bright yellows and blues. Pechstein was closely involved in the lives of the local residents, and regularly accompanied them while working on both land and sea. The numerous photographs he took during these outings show how Pechstein was able to arrive at the dynamic compositions of rural life in his paintings and graphic works.
Palau islands
Inspired by Paul Gauguin’s paintings of Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands, Pechstein visited the Palau Islands, at that time part of the German colonial empire. Excerpts from the diary he kept while staying on the islands, allow visitors some insight into the artist’s experiences. Forced to cut his trip short due to the outbreak of the First World War, Pechstein would later regularly revisit this place of longing in his mind. Upon his return to Berlin, he tapped into his memories of Palau, basing his colourful oil paintings on the sketches he made on location of the paradise-like surroundings. He painted the islands’ rustling palms, tropical flowers, and clear blue waterfalls and also brought the local residents to life on his canvases while fishing and sailing.
Contrasts
In his work Pechstein explored contrasts between the simple rural life and life in the more refined urban world. Both in his paintings and graphic works — which make up a large part of his oeuvre —, Pechstein made the most of the expressive power of sharp contrasts between light and dark. In this way he produced lively depictions of people in rural areas, as well as contrasting, metropolitan portraits of people like his son dressed in a smart dinner jacket, various acquaintances, and of himself holding a smoking pipe. Despite the significant differences between rural and urban life, Pechstein strives to capture the inner world of his subjects in all his portraits.
Collaboration
This exhibition is realised in close collaboration between Kunsthal Rotterdam, the Institut für Kulturaustausch in Tübingen, and the KUNSTSAMMLUNGEN ZWICKAU Max-Pechstein-Museum in Zwickau.
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