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Madrid Tickets Thyssen Bornemisza Museum Gabriele Munter
A gallery room inside the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Gabriele Münter at the Thyssen-Bornemisza

A self-portrait she never exhibited in her lifetime and a Murnau schoolhouse from the summer of 1908 show how Gabriele Münter, a founder of The Blue Rider, found her own style.

Visit

Both works are covered by the Permanent Collection entry: Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum tickets

Location

Self-portrait: Room 35, Level 1. School House, Murnau: Room G, Level 0. Paseo del Prado, 8, 28014 Madrid

Visit duration

The museum's own estimate for a full visit is about two and a half hours. Plan your visit

Key fact

School House, Murnau: dated 27 August 1908, oil on cardboard, 40.6 x 32.7 cm

Gabriele Münter (1877–1962) was one of the founders of The Blue Rider, the Munich group she formed with Kandinsky and others in 1911. The museum holds four of her paintings, and two are on display: a self-portrait in the main collection and School House, Murnau in the Carmen Thyssen rooms. Seen together, they catch her between 1908 and 1910, the years when her painting changed fastest.

Gabriele Münter: key facts

From 1898 to 1900 she travelled in the United States, filling sketchbooks and photographs with more than 400 images.

She was given a Kodak portable camera in 1899, and photography shaped her later painting.

From 1902 she studied at the Phalanx school, which Kandinsky co-founded, and the two later travelled through Europe and North Africa.

In 1909 she bought a house in Murnau, in Bavaria, which became a meeting place for artists until 1914.

She painted herself at least 16 times.

During the Nazi years she kept Blue Rider works hidden in her house, and on her 80th birthday in 1957 she gave works to the Lenbachhaus in Munich.

The museum's 2024 to 2025 exhibition showed 145 of her works, including 38 photographs.

Self-portrait, Room 35

Terracotta-walled galleries at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Münter treated portraiture as one of her most important subjects, and this is a private picture. She never exhibited it and kept it in her studio until her death in 1962. Once dated around 1908, it is now placed in 1909 to 1910, when she began to use more black. Unlike her portraits of friends, with their flat colour and heavy outlines, it goes back to textured brushwork and strong light and shade. Look at how finished the serious, absorbed face is while the rest of the cardboard is only roughly sketched, and at the off-centre neckline that tips the whole figure slightly out of balance.

School House, Murnau, Room G

Villahermosa Palace, home of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Münter dated this small painting 27 August 1908, during the summer she spent in Murnau with Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin. It shows one of the largest buildings in the town. The museum's essay treats it as the moment she left her Impressionist-based manner behind: flat, outlined planes of colour and quick, loose brushwork that gives the scene a feeling of spontaneity. Behind it sit Gauguin, Van Gogh, Munch, Matisse and the reverse glass painting of Bavarian folk art. Within a few weeks of August and September 1908, the essay argues, she had reached her mature Expressionist style.

Münter's world in the museum

Impressionist painting on display at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

Kandinsky's Murnau

Kandinsky's Murnau: Houses in the Obermarkt, also from 1908, hangs in the same room as her School House. He painted the town's main street from a shady side street beside the Griesbräu Inn, probably outdoors in a single session. The two pictures show the same summer through two pairs of eyes.

Old master paintings in a gallery of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

The house in Murnau

Münter bought her Murnau house in 1909, at Kandinsky's urging, and it became a gathering place for Russian artists before the First World War. The house and the country around it went on to inspire many of her paintings, including a 1924 view of the railway and the parish church.

A landscape painting in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection

The Blue Rider

The Blue Rider emerged in Munich at the end of 1911, three years after that first Murnau summer, with Münter among its founding figures. She hid the group's works in her house during the Nazi years, and in 1957 she gave works to the Lenbachhaus in Munich.

Terracotta-walled galleries at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

A camera in America

From 1898 to 1900, before her training in Munich, Münter spent two years in the United States with a Kodak in hand. The museum opened its 2024 exhibition with her photographs, treating that early work as fundamental to her later painting. She took more than 400 images on the trip, in sketchbooks and on film.

4.8
(28)

Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum Tickets: Permanent Collection

Highlights

Explore an extraordinary assortment of artworks spanning multiple centuries.

Wander through thematic floors featuring pieces from medieval times to modern avant-garde.

Enjoy the chance to visit anytime within a year with flexible ticket validity.

Admire pieces from prominent artists, including unique works representing different art movements.

Benefit from free entry for visitors under 18 and complimentary admission on Mondays during midday hours.

4.7
(21)

Prado, Reina Sofia and Thyssen: Paseo del Arte Season Tickets

Highlights

Avoid lengthy queues with express access.

Visit three top museums located close to each other.

Save up to 20% compared to individual ticket purchases.

Experience some of the world’s finest art collections.

Flexible entry times and dates for your convenience.

See Münter on two floors

Find the Self-portrait in Room 35 on Level 1, then go down to Room G on the ground floor for School House, Murnau and Kandinsky's view of the same town. Two small pictures, a year or two apart, show how quickly Münter moved from careful light and shade to bold, flat colour.

Gabriele Münter at the Thyssen: frequently asked questions

Does the Thyssen-Bornemisza have works by Gabriele Münter?

Yes. The museum holds four of her paintings. Two are currently listed on display: the Self-portrait in Room 35 and School House, Murnau in Room G.

Where is Gabriele Münter's Self-portrait?

In Room 35 on Level 1, in the permanent collection. It dates from about 1909 to 1910.

What is School House, Murnau?

A small oil on cardboard dated 27 August 1908, showing one of the largest buildings in Murnau. It belongs to the Carmen Thyssen Collection.

What was Gabriele Münter's relationship with Kandinsky?

She studied at the Phalanx school he co-founded from 1902, became his partner and travelled with him through Europe and North Africa. They spent summers in Murnau until 1914.

What was The Blue Rider?

An artists' group that emerged in Munich in late 1911. Münter was one of its founders, with Kandinsky among the others.

Was there a Gabriele Münter exhibition at the Thyssen?

Yes. Gabriele Münter. The Great Expressionist Woman Painter ran from 12 November 2024 to 9 February 2025, then travelled to the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris.

About this guide

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