Alexej Jawlensky – Mystischer Kopf: Mädchenkopf (frontal) (1918)

Poster with the work Alexej Jawlensky, Mystischer Kopf: Mädchenkopf (frontal), 1918. Deposit Kunstmuseum Basel 2004, by the painter Alexej Jawlensky, published in connection with Louisiana's exhibition in 2025. It was during these years that Jawlensky increasingly turned his motifs towards the portrait, which in his case took on a colorful, stylized expression, where particularly large eyes stand out as a dominant factor.

The painter Alexej Jawlensky (1864-1941) was part of the European avant-garde movements of the early 20th century, but only really found his own artistic voice late in life. The exhibition shows Jawlensky's path towards this distinctive expression, which takes the form of small, mystical meditations.

Alexej Jawlensky was born into a family of officers in Russia in 1864, and initially chose a military career, which he abandoned in favor of art. In 1889 he began studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, where he met the painter Marianne von Werefkin, who became his partner and supporter for many years. Together the couple moved to Munich, where Jawlensky attended a private painting school with, among others, Wassily Kandinsky.