WEBVTT

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[gentle music]

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Gabriele Munter, Wassily Kandinsky.

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He was the painter of form, abstraction, the spiritual,

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inspired by the music, colors,

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and images of his country, Russia.

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She was one of the first female artists

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celebrated in her lifetime,

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a free, instinctive, modern woman.

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[horn honking]

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Together, they would venture down the creative path

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that gave birth to the group known as Der Blaue Reiter,

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The Blue Rider.

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This is the story of Gabriele Munter and Wassily Kandinsky,

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the romantic love between two artists

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at the forefront of German avant-garde painting.

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[quirky chiming music]

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[mysterious chiming music]

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Germany, 1939.

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To the south of Munich in the village of Murnau,

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nestling amid the greenery is a house and its secrets.

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Here, behind this peaceful facade,

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a woman has led an uneventful existence.

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[ball taps]

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[cat meows]

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She is a painter.

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And her name is Gabriele Munter.

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Silently, she watches over the house

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that contains the memories of an extraordinary life.

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[door creaks]

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Gabriele is protecting an invaluable treasure.

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Here it is, right beneath her feet, hidden in the cellar.

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[mysterious chiming music]

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It contains hundreds of pieces of art,

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including 90 exceptional paintings

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by her former lover, artist painter Wassily Kandinsky.

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Gabriele Munter is determined to never part with them.

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The paintings will never leave her house in Murnau.

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[gears creak]

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[fast bouncy music]

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Moscow, 1896.

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Round glasses, unflinching eyes, rather scrawny physique,

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Wassily Kandinsky\'s appearance

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did not reflect his inner turmoil.

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A scientific assistant in economics and statistics,

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Kandinsky was a solid man

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with his head screwed on and a well-wired mind.

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[fast bouncy music]

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His wife, Anja, a distant cousin,

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posited him with a protective and reassuring love.

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Then one day, Wassily\'s life changed.

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[air whooshes]

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[gentle music]

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At a French art exhibition in Moscow,

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he discovered a series of paintings

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known as \"Haystacks\" by Claude Monet.

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These pictures turned his life upside down.

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That day, Wassily had the urge

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to produce a painting without an object.

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One in which color takes precedence over motif.

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His mind was made up. He was going to be a painter.

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[light bouncy music]

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At the age of 30, leaving everything behind,

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he set off for Germany to study painting

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with his wife in tow.

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[engine growls]

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[tires screeching]
[horn honking]

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[engine growls]

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Munich, 1899,

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Wassily Kandinsky and his wife

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now shared a new existence, living the life of an artist.

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And his new designation fit him like a glove.

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The artist was happy to produce paintings

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in the impressionist style.

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Working in science

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never offered me such experiences,

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such inattention, such creative moments,

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but I lacked the talent to feel legitimate.

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And now live the infinitely happy life of an artist.

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In Munich,

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Wassily Kandinsky became involved with a group of artists.

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With them, he created the Phalanx,

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an association and a school

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whose purpose was to promote art in all its forms.

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The class of 1902 had a new student on its benches.

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Her name was Gabriele Munter, and she was 24 years old.

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At the Phalanx,

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Gabriele was free to study art and not look out of place.

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[horn whistling]

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The United States, two years earlier,

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Gabriele Munter traveled across the American Plains.

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Amid the silence and dust, she was happy.

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[gentle music]

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[camera clicks]

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[camera clicks]

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Her cleanly framed photographs

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capture her longing and yearning.

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Her mother had just died.

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She had lost her father during childhood,

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as well as an elder brother.

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[plane crashing]

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In Texas, Gabriele used her pencils

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to immortalize the faces of the people she met.

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I did a lot of sketching back then.

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They\'re sober works with no artistic regard for composition.

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But their strength is that they capture living images

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of the people represented.

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[camera clicking]

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[gentle piano music]

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At the Phalanx school,

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Gabriele Munter found new points of reference.

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In addition to sculpture,

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Kandinsky gave a nudes class in the evening.

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It was a new artistic experience for me.

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He was different to the other teachers,

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paying attention to me and offering in-depth explanations.

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It was all new to me and made a huge impression.

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[quirky music]

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Bavaria, summer 1902.

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Gabriele continued her apprenticeship at summer school

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with Wassily Kandinsky.

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[women laughing]

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There, in the Bavarian Prealps,

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she found herself under an authoritarian

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and demanding teacher.

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[birds chirping]

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One day, I was drawing beside the lake,

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when Kandinsky came along to check my work.

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On examining my paints, he found all the wrong colors.

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Paris green, for example, among others.

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He threw them all onto the grass as if to discard them.

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From that moment on, I used only colors authorized by him.

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The girl had found her mentor,

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the guardian figure that had been missing

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from her life for so long.

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She placed her complete trust in him.

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[woman laughing]

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Wassily, for his part, was taken aback

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by the independence, boldness,

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and youthful spirit of his pupil.

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The situation was getting out of hand.

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Wassily asked Gabriele to cut short her stay.

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His wife had arrived.

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Reluctantly, Gabriele was forced to leave.

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[door thuds]
[objects crashing]

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[woman shouting]
[lively piano music]

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[glass crashing]

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Wassily confessed everything to his wife.

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A devastated Anja accepted an amicable parting of the ways.

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[dramatic music]

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[man grunts]

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[coat thuds]

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[shoes thud]

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[birds chirping]

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[light bouncy music]

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It seems to me

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that I waited all my life for you,

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looked for you, desired you.

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Time drags by without you.

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The days are gray and bland.

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The sun does not shine for me if you are not there.

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The following summer,

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Gabriele was back with Wassily,

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her teacher, friend, and now the man of her life,

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the one she hoped would become her husband.

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The two artists painted each other.

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For the first time, Gabriele produced oil paintings,

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landscapes painted from life.

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As a student, you are hopeless.

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There is nothing you can be taught.

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You are too naturally gifted

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On the canvas,

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the young painter applied the palette knife technique

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taught to her by Kandinsky,

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using her mentor\'s favorite colors.

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[spacey music]

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On his return to Munich,

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a guilt-ridden Wassily was in a dark mood.

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I am sometimes consumed

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with indescribable suffering

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when I think of how I wronged my wife.

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Despite many other things that are uncomfortable for me,

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I have the courage, the will, and the energy

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to abandon my old life,

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and to give you everything I have readily

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and unhesitatingly.

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[quirky music]

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[exhaust sputters]

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[horn honking]

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So Wassily summoned his courage

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and fled.
[man grunts]

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This time with Gabriele in tow.

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Like their love,

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their journey faced neither obstacles nor borders.

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Berlin, Brussels, Milan, Tunis,

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the lovers were driven on by their love.

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For two years,

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a patient Gabriele traveled the world

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alongside the man she loved.

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Meanwhile, a depressed Wassily

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explored the malaise that consumed him.

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[man shouting]

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[tires screeching]

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[bells tolling]

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Paris, 1906.

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The couple finally settled.

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[somber ambient music]

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Wassily moved to Sevres,

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while Gabriele was asked to find other accommodation,

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moving alone to Rue Madame in Paris.

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[door knocking]

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The love shared by the artists was an unusual one,

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united in art, united for the better,

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but on the fringes of decorum and convention.

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Alone, Gabriele was forced to face the disdain

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poured upon a woman in love with a married man.

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Wassily Kandinsky had promised to marry her.

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And she believed him.

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I gave up any notion of building a home.

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Powerless to change anything out of love,

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I accepted the situation because he was suffering.

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In Sevres, Wassily was still feverish

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as he sought to apply in his painting

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the formulas he had managed so easily to solve in Moscow.

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So he got down to writing a theoretical work

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on artistic creation, \"Concerning the Spiritual in Art.\"

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That is beautiful

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which is produced by an inner need,

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which springs from the soul.

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[violin music]

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The painter created colorful drawings,

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nostalgic evocations of his native Russia,

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as well as polychromatic scenes on a black background,

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in a style close to mosaic.

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I am working on a study for \"Couple Riding,\"

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and it pleases me.

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It fills me with new found courage

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to undertake other things.

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Gabriele clung as much to his love

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as she did to his painting.

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She took drawing lessons at the Grande Chaumiere Academy.

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She embraced everything,

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exploring the fields of wood engraving and linocuts.

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In 1907, Gabriele Munter exhibited for the first time

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at the Independent Artists salon,

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and then at the Autumn Salon in Paris,

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where she enjoyed her first success.

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[glasses clinking]

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[bouncy music]

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On January 22nd, 1909, a group of artists,

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including Gabriele Munter and Wassily Kandinsky,

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founded the Munich-based New Artists\' Association.

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Breaking with the Post-Impressionist movement,

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their manifesto aimed to purify form

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to access a more direct artistic expression.

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[lively music]

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In their art, as in their love,

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for Wassily and Gabriele,

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it was the beginning of a new chapter.

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[bird cawing]

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[soft music]

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While on a three-day excursion,

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I discovered this village,

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and immediately fell under its spell.

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Never before had I seen a combination

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of such diverse landscapes as those to be found in Murnau.

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In the small village south of Munich,

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Gabriele found her home base.

268
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She bought their dream house there.

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[camera clicks]

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[birds chirping]

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[camera clicking]

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While home comforts were basic,

273
00:16:12.400 --> 00:16:16.120 line:15%
Gabriele and Wassily painted the walls and the furniture,

274
00:16:16.120 --> 00:16:18.705 line:15%
not to mention masses of pictures.

275
00:16:18.705 --> 00:16:21.122 line:15%
[soft music]

276
00:16:25.800 --> 00:16:28.833 line:15%
Color flooded their decors, palettes, and paintings.

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The countryside inspired them,

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00:16:34.670 --> 00:16:37.774 line:15%
as the cycle of nature punctuated their life.

279
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[quirky music]

280
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Wassily inspired.

281
00:16:48.530 --> 00:16:50.063
Gabriele in love.

282
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The new environment inspired

283
00:16:54.250 --> 00:16:56.703
a real creative surge in the two artists.

284
00:16:59.370 --> 00:17:01.970 line:15%
Working in unison, they could feel their wings grow.

285
00:17:09.170 --> 00:17:11.470 line:15%
In Murnau, the foundations of the paintings

286
00:17:11.470 --> 00:17:13.670
produced by Munter and Kandinsky

287
00:17:13.670 --> 00:17:15.553
were so close that they merged.

288
00:17:18.529 --> 00:17:20.946
[soft music]

289
00:17:26.237 --> 00:17:28.010
[woman laughing]

290
00:17:28.010 --> 00:17:32.030
From 1909 onwards, the artists\' work diverged,

291
00:17:32.030 --> 00:17:34.243
as each took their own personal path.

292
00:17:35.960 --> 00:17:38.050
Gabriele was transformed.

293
00:17:38.050 --> 00:17:39.710
The harmony in her relationship

294
00:17:39.710 --> 00:17:41.893
helped produce her finest work.

295
00:17:42.950 --> 00:17:45.240
She gave free rein to her imagination,

296
00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:47.070
narrowing her point of view,

297
00:17:47.070 --> 00:17:50.343
outlining solid areas of color within black lines.

298
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After a short period of agony,

299
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I took a great leap forward, from the copying of nature

300
00:17:58.590 --> 00:18:00.630
in a more or less impressionist style,

301
00:18:00.630 --> 00:18:03.693
to feeling the content of things, to abstraction.

302
00:18:07.030 --> 00:18:09.425
[frantic music]

303
00:18:09.425 --> 00:18:11.925
[canon booms]

304
00:18:12.890 --> 00:18:14.210
Wassily Kandinsky, too,

305
00:18:14.210 --> 00:18:16.963
was entering a period of intense productivity.

306
00:18:18.210 --> 00:18:21.020
In 1910, he changed direction,

307
00:18:21.020 --> 00:18:23.900
moving towards producing pictures with no subject,

308
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an abstract expressive form of painting.

309
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[opera music]

310
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In the studies I painted, I let myself go.

311
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I thought little of houses and trees.

312
00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:39.420
I applied streaks and blobs of color

313
00:18:39.420 --> 00:18:41.800
onto the canvas with a palette knife.

314
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And I made them sing with all the intensity I could.

315
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[opera music]

316
00:18:53.280 --> 00:18:56.070
Wassily Kandinsky suffered from synesthesia,

317
00:18:56.070 --> 00:18:59.470
a neurological disorder engendering an involuntary ability

318
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to mix up the senses.

319
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The artist could see sounds and hear colors.

320
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Kandinsky gradually made the subject disappear

321
00:19:08.410 --> 00:19:12.113
from his paintings, yielding to the tension of the motifs.

322
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[steam hissing]

323
00:19:20.701 --> 00:19:23.284
[gentle music]

324
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Summer 1911, the climate had changed dramatically.

325
00:19:35.710 --> 00:19:39.323
In the heat of summer, Gabriele had fallen into despair.

326
00:19:43.020 --> 00:19:45.963
The pictures grew darker, inspiration waned.

327
00:19:48.360 --> 00:19:51.683
And the artist lost all her enthusiasm for painting.

328
00:19:53.360 --> 00:19:55.430
Wassily was by now divorced,

329
00:19:55.430 --> 00:19:58.413
but Gabriele still did not have a ring on her finger.

330
00:20:01.010 --> 00:20:04.163
So she left Murnau and went to stay with her sister.

331
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With all my heart,

332
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I hope that you feel well and are recovering from me.

333
00:20:11.020 --> 00:20:14.820
It grieves my heart that I make life so unpleasant for you.

334
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It would be better if people were to abandon me

335
00:20:17.510 --> 00:20:19.893
and I were alone and could do no damage.

336
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Why do you want me to be free of you,

337
00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:24.950
since you know very well

338
00:20:24.950 --> 00:20:27.323
that my life would be empty without you?

339
00:20:28.230 --> 00:20:31.260
Wassily was alone in Murnau that summer.

340
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Well, almost alone.

341
00:20:32.918 --> 00:20:35.501
[quirky music]

342
00:20:37.090 --> 00:20:39.197
His maid was there to keep an eye on him.

343
00:20:41.770 --> 00:20:44.520
[woman laughing]

344
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On December 2nd, 1911,

345
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Gabriele Munter and Wassily Kandinsky closed the door

346
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on Munich\'s New Artists\' Association.

347
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[glasses clinking]

348
00:20:58.410 --> 00:21:01.020
Kandinsky wanted to take it further.

349
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Alongside other artists,

350
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including Franz Marc and August Macke,

351
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he founded Der Blaue Reiter, The Blue Rider movement.

352
00:21:11.270 --> 00:21:13.140 line:15%
At the forefront of expressionism,

353
00:21:13.140 --> 00:21:16.050 line:15%
the artists strove to capture the symbolism of color,

354
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harnessing an intuitive approach to subjects.

355
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The movement organized two exhibitions.

356
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And in 1912, published the \"Almanach Der Blaue Reiter.\"

357
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For Kandinsky,

358
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it proved to be a decisive period

359
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in his experiments with abstract art.

360
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Success followed.

361
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Modern art had just broken through in Germany,

362
00:21:44.500 --> 00:21:45.540
and the Russian painter

363
00:21:45.540 --> 00:21:47.973
had finally found his creative direction.

364
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[bells clanging]

365
00:21:57.233 --> 00:22:00.066
[object crashing]

366
00:22:01.230 --> 00:22:04.030
August 1st, 1914,

367
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Germany declares war on Russia.

368
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Wassily Kandinsky hurriedly left Germany,

369
00:22:10.330 --> 00:22:13.803
initially for Switzerland, leaving behind his paintings.

370
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Gabriele, always at his side, accompanied him in his flight.

371
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Wassily made a solemn promise to marry her.

372
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In December 1915,

373
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he finally took refuge in Moscow.

374
00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:32.463
This time alone.

375
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[metal clonks]

376
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[bird cawing]

377
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Gabriele remained alone.

378
00:22:45.414 --> 00:22:47.997
[gentle music]

379
00:22:49.390 --> 00:22:51.330
The years went by.

380
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Her letters to him went unanswered.

381
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Wassily had vanished.

382
00:23:03.300 --> 00:23:06.063
Six years later, Gabriele heard the news.

383
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Wassily was alive and well, still living in Moscow,

384
00:23:11.940 --> 00:23:13.860
but he had been married for three years

385
00:23:13.860 --> 00:23:16.423
to an 18-year-old Russian girl named Nina.

386
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They even had a son together.

387
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[lighting crashing]

388
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[foreboding music]

389
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In 1921, a long legal battle ensued

390
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between the two former lovers.

391
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Wassily was desperate to recover the works

392
00:23:44.210 --> 00:23:46.700
he left behind in Munich before the war,

393
00:23:46.700 --> 00:23:49.683
almost a hundred paintings, a priceless treasure.

394
00:23:51.770 --> 00:23:53.850
But Gabriele refused to return them,

395
00:23:53.850 --> 00:23:56.933
regarding the paintings as reparation for his abandonment.

396
00:23:59.880 --> 00:24:02.131
And this time Gabriele won the battle.

397
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[glass crashing]

398
00:24:04.883 --> 00:24:06.074
[punches thudding]

399
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[man thuds]
[man grunts]

400
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The two lovers would never see each other again.

401
00:24:18.706 --> 00:24:21.591
[shoes crunching]

402
00:24:21.591 --> 00:24:24.146
[gentle piano music]

403
00:24:24.146 --> 00:24:24.979
[fists pounding]

404
00:24:24.979 --> 00:24:26.650
As World War II loomed,

405
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Gabriele Munter\'s treasure came under threat.

406
00:24:30.340 --> 00:24:32.310
The Nazis regarded modern paintings

407
00:24:32.310 --> 00:24:35.663
by members of Der Blaue Reiter as degenerate art.

408
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In the cellar of her house in Murnau,

409
00:24:41.280 --> 00:24:43.943
Gabriele hid all the pictures she had kept.

410
00:24:46.042 --> 00:24:47.550
[door creaks]

411
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No one would ever get their hands on her treasure.

412
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[lock clicks]

413
00:24:55.280 --> 00:24:57.863
[gentle music]

414
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In 1957, for her 80th birthday,

415
00:25:06.470 --> 00:25:08.530 line:15%
Gabriele Munter gave the city of Munich

416
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part of her collection.

417
00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:15.390 line:15%
The works of Der Blaue Reiter,

418
00:25:15.390 --> 00:25:17.780 line:15%
paintings by herself and her former lover,

419
00:25:17.780 --> 00:25:20.260 line:15%
once again saw the light of day.

420
00:25:20.260 --> 00:25:23.720 line:15%
Outstanding pieces of art she saved and preserved

421
00:25:23.720 --> 00:25:27.723
partly as a matter of pride, but mostly out of love.

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[quirky piano music]