AdaSue Myers '11
The Personal Window of Paula Modersohn-Becker
Paula
Modersohn-Becker’s
life and vibrant artistic
career provides a
unique view into the
turn of the twentieth
century’s shifting ideology concerning female duty in Germany and Europe.
Three avant-garde thinkers, poet Rainier Maria Rilke,
feminist writer Ellen Key, and philosopher Frederic
Nietzsche, influenced Modersohn-Becker’s views on the
social and personal issues explored in her art. The tension
between these three perspectives and Modersohn-
Becker’s own beliefs is evident in the artist’s personal
iconography. In particular, nine paintings of pregnant
mothers and mothers with children from 1898 to 1907
reflect Modersohn-Becker’s evolving view of maternity.
Modersohn Becker’s works exemplify the struggle
between the evolving social and political expectations of
women’s role in society.
