29 Facts About Paula Modersohn-Becker

Paula Modersohn-Becker was a German Expressionist painter of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Paula Modersohn-Becker is noted for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude self-portraits.

Paula Modersohn-Becker is considered one of the most important representatives of early expressionism, producing more than 700 paintings and over 1000 drawings during her active painting life.

Paula Modersohn-Becker is recognized both as the first known woman painter to paint nude self-portraits, and the first woman to have a museum devoted exclusively to her art.

Paula Modersohn-Becker's career was cut short when she died from postpartum pulmonary embolism at the age of 31.

Paula Modersohn-Becker was the third of seven children in her family.

The family interacted with Bremen's local artistic and intellectual circles, and Paula began to learn to draw.

Paula Modersohn-Becker worked as a painter from ~1893, at age 16, and was allowed to set up her first studio in the extension of her parents' house in Bremen.

Paula Modersohn-Becker completed her teacher's course "with flying colors," but it was clear that she had little intention of pursuing a career in that profession.

Paula Modersohn-Becker additionally used her Berlin time to visit its art museums, studying the works of German and Italian artists.

Paula Modersohn-Becker convinced her family to allow her to attend a further course of study at the nearby artists' colony in the northern German town of Worpswede.

Paula Modersohn-Becker created "sentimental" landscapes and scenes of peasant life, painting, in the Worpswede manner, the local farmers and northern German landscape.

Paula Modersohn-Becker visited museums or exhibitions and galleries alone or with Westhoff to get to know modern French painters.

Paula Modersohn-Becker was particularly impressed by the paintings of Paul Cezanne, and Les Nabis, who emphasized the importance of colored areas in paintings following the example of Paul Gauguin.

Paula Modersohn-Becker set up a small studio on a nearby farm, where she went to paint for several hours a day.

Paula Modersohn-Becker functioned in this uneasy balance for two years, then returned again to Paris, accompanied by Otto, for two months in 1903.

Paula Modersohn-Becker spent most of her time drawing in the Louvre from ancient and Egyptian models.

In 1906, Paula Modersohn-Becker left Worpswede, as well as her husband, Otto, to pursue an artistic career in Paris.

Paula Modersohn-Becker had written in detail about her love for her husband but of her need to delay motherhood in her pursuit of artistic freedom.

Paula Modersohn-Becker continued to express ambivalence regarding motherhood as she was concerned about her ability to paint while raising a child; her diary entries indicate that she had planned on achieving a painting career by age thirty, then having children.

Paula Modersohn-Becker had complained of pain in her legs after the delivery, and was advised to remain in bed.

Paula Modersohn-Becker walked a few steps, then sat down, called for the infant to be placed in her arms, complained of leg pain, and died, saying only "What a pity".

Paula Modersohn-Becker's death was likely due to deep venous thrombosis, a complication of pregnancy that is relatively common when women are set to bed for a long time after delivery, as was customary practice at that time.

Paula Modersohn-Becker was able to achieve a distinct texture to her work by scratching into the wet paint.

Paula Modersohn-Becker employed the same technique throughout her short career as a painter.

Paula Modersohn-Becker worked in tempera and oil with a limited palette range of pigments such as zinc white, cadmium yellow, viridian, and synthetic ultramarine.

Paula Modersohn-Becker later abandoned those techniques to move into Fauvism.

Paula Modersohn-Becker visited contemporary exhibitions often, and was particularly intrigued with the work of Paul Cezanne.

From a little-known artist with a complaining husband, the increasing exposure and popularity of Paula Modersohn-Becker's work has kept some of her most popular paintings in constant international circulation during the 21st century.