# Otto Mueller

Otto Müller (16 October 1874 - 24 September 1930) was a German painter and printmaker; he participated in the artist-group Die Brücke; the German expressionist movement.

## Quotes

* My principle aim is to express my experience of landscape and human beings with the greatest possible simplicity.
** as quoted by de:Wolf-Dieter Dube, in Expressionism, de:Wolf-Dieter Dube; Praeger Publishers, New York, 1973, p. 90
* I have always taken the art of the ancient Egyptians as my model, even in purely technical matters.
** Quote of Otto Mueller, 1919; as cited by de:Wolf-Dieter Dube, in Expressionism, de:Wolf-Dieter Dube; Praeger Publishers, New York, 1973, p. 90
* I depict my life and experiences in my works of art.
** quoted by his sister Emmy Muellers in her 'Recollections'; as cited in Otto Mueller: A Stand-Alone Modernist, Dieter W. Posselt; 2006 / new edition 2010, Books on Demand, GmbH, Norderstedt, Germany - ISBN:978-3-8448-6866-1
* I will try to develop an entirely new style and I am sure I will succeed.
* By new style I meant mainly technical aspects. It is impossible to experience things from an entirely new angle through will-power; it has to mature in solitude.
** from (letter 03 205) and (letter 03 147); as quoted in Otto Mueller: A Stand-Alone Modernist, Dieter W. Posselt; 2006 / new edition 2010, Books on Demand, GmbH, Norderstedt, Germany - ISBN:978-3-8448-6866-1, unpaged
* Since I am not well and have difficulty walking.. .More than anything else, I need lots of rest; even letter-writing is a strain.
** in letter 03-223, Summer 1930, from Bad Salzbrunn; as quoted in Otto Mueller: A Stand-Alone Modernist, Dieter W. Posselt; 2006 / new edition 2010, Books on Demand, GmbH, Norderstedt, Germany - ISBN:978-3-8448-6866-1

## Quotes about Otto Mueller

* Appreciation Otto Mueller has until now been hampered by the circumstance that his timeless art provides no recognizable points of reference, has been spared the problems surrounding contemporary art and is difficult to classify under any of the categories that are so popular wit his terminology addicts.
** Kurt Kusenberg, in 'Die Weltkunst', No. 40, 5 October 1930; as quoted in Otto Mueller: A Stand-Alone Modernist, Dieter W. Posselt; 2006 / new edition 2010, Books on Demand, GmbH, Norderstedt, Germany - ISBN:978-3-8448-6866-1, unpaged
* [the nicest artist and his works were] always of a high standard and truly free works of art and genuine because they matured freely and purely on the basis of his philosophy of life.
** Ernst Ludwig Kirchner 1930, from: 'Emmy Mueller's 'Recollections', p. 18; as cited in Otto Mueller: A Stand-Alone Modernist, Dieter W. Posselt; 2006 / new edition 2010, Books on Demand, GmbH, Norderstedt, Germany - ISBN:978-3-8448-6866-1, unpaged
* He himself omitted certain things in his pictures that his contemporaries deemed to be of importance, in order to capture the essence.. ..with the greatest possible simplicity.
** Erich Heckel, in a letter Otto's sister Emmy Mueller, 1953; as cited in Otto Mueller: A Stand-Alone Modernist, Dieter W. Posselt; 2006 / new edition 2010, Books on Demand, GmbH, Norderstedt, Germany - ISBN:978-3-8448-6866-1, unpaged
* The first encounter with Otto Mueller's paintings was in Berlin, at the showing of the 'Rejects of the Berlin Secession'. which took place at the Galerie Macht in the spring of 1910. And we met him personally the very same day in his studio on Mommsenstrasse. This meeting was significant for all of us and occurred at a fruitful moment; and, as a matter of course, he belonged to Die Brücke community from then on.
** a later recall of Erich Heckel; as quoted in Expressionism, a German intuition, 1905-1920, Neugroschel, Joachim; Vogt, Paul; Keller, Horst; Urban, Martin; Dube, Wolf Dieter; (transl. Joachim Neugroschel); publisher: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, 1980, p. 93

## External links

* free-to-read english text: 'Otto Mueller: A Stand-Alone Modernist', by Dieter W. Posselt, 2010 - GoogleBooks
* 190 images of paintings and prints, by Otto Mueller, on WikiArt