Marianne Werefkin

Steeped in bold blue tones, Marianne Werefkin’s painting of the dancer Alexander Sacharoff shows him in costume, wearing a blue gown, one of his famous wigs, and holding a blue and red prop flower. Sacharoff was an innovative, soloist dancer, who joined the NKVM artist group in 1909. Sacharoff’s performances radically eschewed gender norms by performing in women’s or gender-fluid costumes of his own design, and by embodying an androgynous identity. Painting Sacharoff in stage make-up, Werefkin captures the vibrant personality of the dancer in this figurative, expressionist portrait.

• Artist Marianne Werefkin
• Artwork The Dancer Alexander Sacharoff
• Exhibition Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider
• Material FSC Certified paper
• Date of work 1909
• Credit Original: Marianne Werefkin The Dancer Alexander Sacharoff, 1909 Tempera on paper on card 73.5 × 55 cm Fondazione Marianne Werefkin, Museo Comunale d'Arte Moderna, Ascona

Marianne Werefkin (1860– 1938) was a Russian artist, and a central figure in the Expressionist art movement. Born into an aristocratic family, she trained at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. In 1892 she met fellow art student Alexej Jawlensky, who became her life partner and protégé. After gaining financial independence in 1896, she moved with Jawlensky to the artistic district of Schwabing, Munich, where Werefkin became an avant-garde salon hostess and patron. She abandoned realistic oil painting and concentrated instead on experimental drawing, sketching and writing. From 1908, she and Jawlensky collaborated with Wassily Kandinsky and Gabriele Münter at their Murnau artist commune. She co-founded the Neue Künstlervereinigung München and exhibited with The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter) at Der Sturm gallery. During the First World War, Werefkin moved to Ascona, Switzerland, where she she co-founded the international Der Grossen Bären group in 1924. She remained a central figure in Ascona’s artistic life until her death.