PAULA MODERSOHN-BECKER AND HER PURSUIT OF ART

Paula Modersohn-Becker and Her Pursuit of Art

Sarah Schmidt
Illinois State University

PAULA MODERSOHN-BECKER AND HER PURSUIT OF ART

Abstract
This paper examines Paula Modersohn-Beckers work, and life. It shows her need for art
and how her actions lined up with the Women's Movement that started in 1848. Addressed are
topics around her marriage, her need to bear children, primitivism, her search for identity, and
how all of theses passions influenced her art.

Paula Modersohn-Becker and Her Pursuit of Art

In the late 19th, and early 20th century, Paula Modersohn-Becker unintentionally became
feminist through her pursuit of art and with discovering and depicting identity. Through her

PAULA MODERSOHN-BECKER AND HER PURSUIT OF ART

3
actions, experience, and a need to find her personal identity, Modersohn- Becker paved the way
for modern thought on women. In some ways, Paula Modersohn-Becker inhabited the idea of
feminism for her time, yet she attempted to adhere to traditional roles for women. ModersohnBeckers love for art played a strong role in developing who she was, and gave her as woman in
a male dominant society. In this paper I examine where Paula Modersohn- Becker fits into
feminism in Germany at the time, her marriage, her need to be a mother and how that affected
her art through the use of primitivism, her need to paint in order to explore identity and her use
of nude self portraits in the process.
Prior to World War I, an interesting change in womens lives and their roles in society
took place in Germany. Beginning in 1848, women pushed for an expanded understanding and
agency of their identity, rather than being molded by men into specific roles (Frevert, p. 73). The
man was involved in the changing world while ...his wife was faced with maintaining
equilibrium in the family, seeing to repetitive daily chores, and ensuring that she functioned like
clockwork (Frevert, p. 66). Paula Modersohn Becker was raised on this ideology from a young
age, and her parents expected to pair her with someone with whom she would become an
obedient dutiful wife. A letter from her Father reads:
Your duty now will be to merge with your future husband, to dedicate yourself
completely to his ways and his wishes, to have his welfare constantly in sight and not let
yourself be guided by selfish thoughts. For the most part it will certainly be easy for you,
because you surely love Otto and seem to agree with him in most matters. But there will
also be times when it will be difficult for you to subordinate yourself to him, and bend to
his will. Only then will you be put to the test. (Torgensen, 1998, p. 105).

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Modersohn-Beckers fathers wishes were reasonable in Modersohn-Beckers mind; she had no
issue in being the wife that she was made out to be (Torgensen, 1998, p. 98). However, the
womens movement in Germany sought to end this way of thinking. Their goal was to push for
equal rights in issues like education, political involvement and even financial opportunities
depending on the focus of the feminist group. Paula Modersohn-Becker, however,
[attended] a lecture in Berlin [1897] on Goethe and the Emancipation of Women. She
praised the speaker (Fraulein von Milde) but found herself unable to agree with the
attitudes which these modern women expressed towards men, claiming that the women
talk in a manner which portrays men as greedy children (Perry, 1979, p. 39).
She did find a man to marry, but this man, Otto Modersohn, was not what her family would
traditionally expect. Otto Modersohn was an older, widowed man, and young Beckers parents
reluctantly allowed their daughter to marry him marriage after a time of hesitation. Although
directly separated from the women's movement, Modersohn-Becker still carried many of the
attributes that added a taste of this feminism in her actions, especially when looking at her role as
a wife.
Modersohn-Beckers loved Otto Modersohn and truly wanted to become a dutiful wife,
but her own will and love for painting shattered this.. At the beginning of her marriage her
attitude towards her wifely duties strongly looked to conventional roles. She wrote, I believe
that I will become quite a good wife. I have even been concerned, lately, that I might lose my old
obstinate head as time goes by (Torgersen 1998, p. 98). Her obstinate head did show up
later in her marriage, but arguably this stemmed from her love for art. She was eventually so into
her art and so much less into her marriage that Modersohn-Becker would often take prolonged

PAULA MODERSOHN-BECKER AND HER PURSUIT OF ART

trips to Paris. Eventually, the real reason for this disconnect Otto Modersohns impotence -

came out, and Modersohn-Beckers frustrations with her husband brought them to separate and
almost lead to a divorce. Modersohn-Beckers friend, Clara Westhoff, wrote in a letter to her
husband, Rainer Maria Rilke, that the couple had not yet consummated their marriage, even after
5 years (Torgersen, 1998, p. 179). This was likely a large part of Modersohn-Beckers frustration
and her longing to break off the marriage. This is especially true, as Modersohn-Becker wanted
to be a mother (Torgersen 1998). Later in her letter Westoff writes:
She herself believes in her ability to bear children and would still like to achieve this
goal- even on her own, without a man. Its very strange- she means to do all that- and
wants to represent [Ottos impotence] above all as the occasion and cause of separation,
because he doesnt understand the other reasons (p. 179).
This shows a very strong will as an individual, and as a woman, which contradicted what
Modersohn-Becker said about herself not connecting to the so-called modern women of the
womens movement. It must be noted though, that the struggles with her husband occurred later
in life. Her first encounter with the Womens movement took place in 1897,before she and her
husband were even married in 1901(Modersohn-Becker, p.5), so her attitude towards this
movement may have been different at this later point of life. Modersohn-Becker took three
prolonged trips to Paris in the span of their marriage; one in 1903, a second in 1905, and a third
in 1906 (Modersohn-Becker, p. 5-6). Torgerson (1998) claims It is possible that, if Paula had
thought that staying with Otto served her art, she would have stayed. thus further
emphasizing Modersohn-Beckers dedication to art (p.180). This dedication is best noted through
her ability and freedom to leave the traditional housewifes role and pursue other things, truly

PAULA MODERSOHN-BECKER AND HER PURSUIT OF ART

promoting her as a modern woman for her time. King (2009) describes how Otto Modersohn

definitely saw his wifes need for art:

Otto recognized and believed in her talents, he accepted and accommodated her need to
develop her painting career, and readily allowed her time to do so. Of course there were
disagreements, sometimes bitter. Once, when he considered that she had shown a lack of
sensitivity (and femininity) in putting her art before her family concerns, he made
reference in his journals to Nietzsche and how his wife had been infected by modern
notions of egotism (p.36-38).
Otto Modersohn showed a strong sense of acceptance in letting his wife have a career in
painting, which is arguably very modern thought for the time, yet there is also a point when he
felt it had been taken too far. Arguably, Paula Modersohn-Becker displays traits of feminist
thought in her actions, though it may not have been intentional. It was very modern for a woman
in parallel situations to conduct themselves similarly to Modersohn-Becker. Despite ModersohnBeckers strong love for art, a love that nearly separated her from her husband, ModersohnBecker still longed to be a mother.
In many of Paula Modersohn-Beckers writings, it is evident how deep her maternal
needs were. Torgerson (1998) states, The testimonies of those who knew her is unanimous in
asserting that she did want to be a mother, and shared for better or worse the belief that for a
woman this was a form of fulfillment that nothing else, including art, could make up for (p.
118). Her fascination and need for bearing a child was the largest strain on her marriage, but it
often gave inspiration to her painting. These paintings were often about the relationship between
mother and child, and it brought her to the forefront of modernity in her quest to unlock that

PAULA MODERSOHN-BECKER AND HER PURSUIT OF ART

mystery. King (2009) states, For her, birth and motherhood were a mystery, deep and

impenetrable, delicate and all-embracing (p.169). This depth and mystery seemed to show this
longing in her paintings. Her delicate portrayal of women with their children gave an identity to
these women that she had the insight for. When looking at other artists such as Fritz Mackensen
portrayal of Mother and Child (1892) versus her paintings, such as Kneeling Mother and Child
(1906), we see that although Makensens is more of a realistic portrait, Modersohn-Becker
focuses more on the bond between the two figures, and brings much more life to their
relationship through color and style. Modersohn-Becker spoke of her deep connection to being a
mother saying:
And then, you know it is such a celebration for women in particular, because these
tidings of motherhood go on and on, living in every woman. All that is so holy. Its a
Mystery which for me. I bow down to it whenever I encounter it; I kneel before it in
humility. That, and death, that is my religion, because I cannot comprehend them
(Torgersen, 1998, p. 98-99).
This gave her a connection to her art that no man could make while painting a mother and child.
Her need to comprehend such a mysterious bond caused a curiosity that gave the world many
great paintings. Paula Modersohn-Becker did end up giving birth to a child in 1907, however
days later, she died of a heart attack. It would have been interesting to see how her art would
have changed after her first experience as a mother.
In addition to her mother and child portraits, Modersohn-Becker also obsessed over the
creation of self-portraits. Paula Modersohn-Becker fought to be an artist in a time where being an
artist over a wife was not widely accepted, and fought for a place in the art community. She was

PAULA MODERSOHN-BECKER AND HER PURSUIT OF ART

not just painting women or self-portraits that had been done so many times before; she was

painting women in search of their identity. Perry (1979) says:

These more subtle pictorial variations can be seen in the constant repetition of selfportrait in the work of both Modersohn-Becker and Kathe Kollwitz. Through their many
varied interpretations of the theme, both artists reflect a search for their own identities as
women. Modersohn-Becker paints herself looking self-assured or wistful, naked or
clothed, and sometimes crowned with flowers. She is engaged with the continual process
of self-examination (p. 39).
In this time in Germany, The Womens Movement was trying to accomplish a place where
women could find their own identities in the world. Beyond that, Paula Modersohn-Becker was
the first artist to ever paint herself nude. This was a very bold move for her time and cemented
her in history as one of the first modern woman painters.
Paula Modersohn-Becker wished to be involved in an art world larger than what she
could find in Worpswede at the artists colony, where she lived, and so this was another reason
for her escapes to Paris. In Paris she met with many important painters, saw the work of artists
such as Picasso, Gauguin, Czanne, and Rodin, and she went to museums like the Louvre. In
Paris, she was able to have deep intellectual conversation about theories popular in the art world,
and she saw how other artists developed their work. She saw the artists that had an enormous
influence on her: Cezanne and Gauguin. Cezennes application of paint and abstraction, and
Gauguins use of color and his depiction of people, for example, led Modersohn-Becker in her
choice of subjects and her decision to depict them in nature. According to King (2009):

PAULA MODERSOHN-BECKER AND HER PURSUIT OF ART

Paula felt a perennial sense of compassion towards her subjects. As she wrote: I have

always been close [to my subjects].... and have fundamentally always loved the
primitive. Were these pictures gently chiding Gauguin, the male artist, for his
appropriation of the naive and innocent? Or was Paula an impoverished female artist
perhaps conveying her feelings of envy at his capacity for working in exotic locations far
from Paris (p. 152).
Many of Modersohn-Beckers pieces show women or children (or both) in gardens holding fruit
and posing in the nude. Paula Modersohn-Becker was fascinated by the primitive and allowed
her to encounter Egyptian burial portraits and African masks, through Picassos work and that of
other artists at the time. Radycki (2013) argues that Modersohn-Beckers extended family can be
credited in Modersohn-Beckers receptivity to non-western art with family that came and went
from Indonesian plantations where they exposed her to non-western cultures from a very early
age (p. 17). In her quest to seek and explore the primitive, without being able to take a more
extreme measure like Gauguin and travel to Tahiti, she also turned to peasants. She depicted
children, often nude with necklaces and in gardens, and she returned to nature for inspiration,
that stemmed from a fascination Gauguin had with the same subject matter. Her famous amber
necklace, fruits, and flowers in her hair or in the background symbolically made reference to her
fascination with the primitive, and, of course, connected back to her fascination with
motherhood. She represented herself often with these objects and made reference to her desire
and readiness to be a mother by posing herself with fruit; this is clear in a painting like, Selfportrait with Lemon (1906-07). This drive to explore the primitive through her subjects
(including herself) came from how she was moved by the natural world in a way that is similar to

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how Gauguin was moved by the piety of the Breton people (King, 2009, p. 145). ModersohnBecker explored these ideas through art with portraits of people to aid her incessant exploration.
Paula Modersohn-Becker lived her life fully as an artist. The pursuit of art gave her the
medium to explore unanswered questions of her own identity. This pursuit pushed her to
uncharted territory in the art world. She seemed to happen upon modernity and through her
actions became a part of the Womens Movement. If things in her life like her rough marriage
had not taken place, she may not have been so fascinated with motherhood, or the need to escape
to Paris (to be inspired by so many influential people and ideas), or even pursuing her own sense
of identity. When she first talked about her submission to traditional roles women played, she
seemed happy about this pursuit. However, as time went on, her love of art changed this
sentiment, and her pursuit of identity kept her artistic fire alive.

References
Frevert, U. (1989). Women in German history: From bourgeois emancipation to sexual
liberation . New York, New York: Berg.
King, A. (2009). Paula Modersohn-Becker . Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Club.

PAULA MODERSOHN-BECKER AND HER PURSUIT OF ART

Modersohn-Becker, P. (1983). Paula Modersohn-Becker, the letters and journals (G. Busch,

11

Ed.). New York: Taplinger Pub.

Perry, G. (1979). Paula Modersohn-Becker: Her Life and Work. New York, New York: Harper &
Row.
Radycki, J. (2013). Paula Modersohn-Becker: The First Modern Woman Artist. New Haven,
Connecticut: Yale University Press.
Torgersen, E. (1998). Dear Friend: Rainer Maria Rilke and Paula Modersohn-Becker (p. 276).
Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.