Vier machen Blau | Feininger · Jawlensky · Kandinsky · Klee

Lyonel Feininger, Alexej von Jawlensky, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee – four voices united in the group The Blue Four. The Blue Four was far more than merely a group of artists exhibiting together during the 1920s. It stood for a movement of expression, inner longing and the search for a deeper meaning in art. They created a vision that continues to resonate to this day – a vision that, through its departure from representational painting and its bold step towards abstraction, became a universal language. It is a vision that still deserves a place in exhibitions and in people’s hearts today.

Their artistic styles could hardly have been more different, yet Galka Emmy Scheyer brought them together as a group that found an enduring resonance in the United States.

For Lyonel Feininger, to whom the museum in Quedlinburg is dedicated, membership of The Blue Four primarily offered a new opportunity to gain international recognition for his art. Although he was already acknowledged in Germany as an important representative of modern art, the activities of the group – particularly its travels and exhibitions in the United States – enabled Feininger to expand his reach considerably. The success of The Blue Four played a significant role in establishing Feininger as one of the leading representatives of modern art in the United States as well.

Highlighting this group and its work broadens the thematic scope of the museum’s permanent exhibition and deepens the understanding of the celebrated artist and his contemporaries. The exhibition introduces the artists and presents rare loans.