Otto Mueller

Otto Mueller was a founding member of the Die Brücke (‘The Bridge’) group. The painter and printmaker played a crucial role in shaping early 20th-century German art, contributing to the bold, emotional and avant-garde approach that defined Expressionism.

Born in 1874 in Liebau, Silesia (now Poland), Mueller initially trained as a lithographer at a workshop in the town of Gölitz. In 1894, he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden and in Munich before moving to Berlin in 1908. His early work was influenced by Impressionism, Symbolism and Jugendstil (Art Nouveau), but after encountering the more radical Expressionist artists, his style evolved. In 1910, Mueller joined Die Brücke, a group that included artists such as Max Pechstein, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Erich Heckel. The group sought to create art that conveyed raw, emotional intensity, often through simplified forms, dynamic bursts of colours and bold compositions.

Mueller’s work stood apart from his peers due to its softer, more lyrical qualities. He frequently depicted intimate scenes of female nudes and the natural world, using muted earthy tones and fluid, almost dreamlike lines. His affinity for the principles of Art Nouveau, nature and a sense of primal, spiritual connection with his subjects distinguished him from other Expressionists, who often used more aggressive colour palettes and angular forms. His nudes, particularly, are rendered with a tenderness and sensitivity, set against serene, wooded landscapes. In 2010, Mueller’s nude in the landscape Badende (c.1927) sold at Christie’s London for £2,079,650, establishing a world auction record for the artist.

Mueller travelled through Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary during the 1920s and produced many works portraying people belonging to the gypsy ethnic group. His prints and lithographs were also highly regarded, particularly for their technical mastery and expressive power. His art, while modern and forward-thinking, often harkened back to a sense of timeless, archetypal beauty.

After World War I, Mueller became a professor at the Academy of Arts in Breslau until his death in 1930. Over 300 of his works were seized by the Nazis in 1937 from German collections and denounced as ‘degenerate art’.

Today, Otto Mueller is remembered as one of the most important figures in German Expressionism, with his works held in prestigious collections, including the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and other major institutions.