No other artist of Classical Modernism has achieved a similar mythical status to that of Paula Modersohn-Becker. At the same time, the view of her work is often distorted by cliches. This comprehensive publication pays particular attention to the progressive nature of Modersohn’s works, in which this early representative of the avant-garde defied all social and artistic conventions.

How and why did Paula Modersohn-Becker succeed in creating iconic pictures which continue to move and fascinate viewers today? The remarkable radicalism of her attitude and her works, her stylistic modernity and almost photographic lingering on details can be seen in succinct series and pictorial subjects showing her individual treatment of colour and form and her style. The breadth of her opulently presented oeuvre, created within a period of not quite a single decade, extends from self-portraits, early nudes, portraits, pictures of children and representations of mother and child and peasants to still lifes and landscapes which impress through their timeless directness.