Animals
by Nora Hogrefe
15 images
Animals rarely form the active centre of attention in the paintings in the Brücke-Museum collection. While they are glorified in the works by the artists’ group Der Blaue Reiter, in those of the Brücke artists they are primarily part of nature or of everyday life. They are depicted as food, as an attribute or indeed a means to an end when they are seen helping humans at work.
In the joint representation of humans and animals, the Brücke artists emphasize the apparent close bond between the female body and nature as well as the grace and beauty it gains as a consequence. An opinion still widespread today to a certain extent, that women are more closely connected to nature and animals than men, was used primarily in the 19th and 20th centuries to deny women rationality and good sense, and thus to exclude them from political participation. What perspectives can we adopt today in observing how the Brücke artists depicted of animals by the Brücke artists? How can they be discussed under the auspices of climate and environmental protection as well as persisting injustices?
