GRONINGEN.- From 13 December 2009 to 11 April 2010, the Groninger Museum will present the highlights from the collection of the Brücke Museum in Berlin. The exhibition, which will be held in the Ploeg Pavilion, will display 150 works, including paintings, drawings, prints and figures by the Brücke members Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt- Rottluff, Fritz Bleyl, Max Pechstein, Emil Nolde, Cuno Amiet and Otto Mueller.

The basis of the collection and the foundation of the Brücke Museum was the donation of a large number of works by Karl Schmidt- Rottluff. Since then, the collection has been extended with works by the other Brücke members by means of purchases, donations and long-term loans. The artists’ group Brücke, founded in Dresden in 1905, is regarded right down to this day as one of the most important fundaments on which North European expressionism is founded.

The rapid, sketch-like forms and the expressive colours, in often-contrasting colour combinations, are typical of Brücke expressionism. Their favourite themes included townscapes, landscapes and the world of variety. In 1913 the group disbanded and the artists went their own way. In the thirties, the work of the members of De Brücke was classified by the Nation Socialist regime as being degenerate.

It is exceptional that these works will be on display in the Groninger Museum. In the 1920s, a number of painters in De Ploeg artists’ group became inspired by the expressionism of De Brücke. An angle on the Groninger landscape, not previously displayed, and the portrait, were created under the inspiring direction of Jan Wiegers who had established contact with Ernst Ludwig Kirchner during a health cure in Davos.