Münter & Kandinsky (2024)

The film begins in 1942. The Gestapo searches the home of 65-year-old Gabriele Münter for works by Wassily Kandinsky, her former partner, whose art has been banned by the Nazi regime. Münter, however, has already taken the works to safety. The rest of the film unfolds through flashbacks to Münter’s memories: in 1901, at the Phalanx art school in Munich, she meets Wassily Kandinsky, who is eleven years her senior, and falls in love with him at first sight. During a trip by the art class to Kallmünz in 1903, Kandinsky confesses that he has fallen in love with her, too. After they sleep together for the first time, she imagines a life together and is filled with happiness—until Kandinsky confesses to her that same day that he is already married in Russia. He assures her that the marriage exists only on paper. When Gabriele brings up divorce, he makes it clear that it will not happen, especially since his wife is also his cousin. The two travel together often, but their arguments become more and more frequent, primarily because Kandinsky keeps putting off the divorce. In 1909, they return together to Murnau am Staffelsee in Bavaria, where they initially rent a house, which Münter eventually buys. In 1911, the two found the Blue Rider with their friend Franz Marc. When the First World War breaks out in 1914, they first move to Switzerland together. In November 1914, Kandinsky returns alone to his Russian homeland. Münter goes to Denmark in 1915 and organizes an exhibition there for her beloved, still hoping he will propose to her. When Münter and Kandinsky finally meet in Stockholm in 1916, he is deeply upset by the news that his friend Franz Marc has been killed in the war. After the exhibition, he returns to Russia once again. At this point, Münter has no idea that they will never see each other again. In 1922, Münter is back in the house in Murnau when Kandinsky’s lawyer visits her and informs her that Kandinsky has been married to Nina Kandinsky since 1917 and wants all his belongings and paintings back. Münter refuses, and after the lawyer’s visit she has an angry outburst, deeply hurt. Meanwhile, Kandinsky, now married for the second time, is offered a teaching position at the Bauhaus in Weimar, which he accepts, while also making sure Gabriele does not find out about it.