SAVING KANDINSKY

As they paint together on the Bavarian mountainside, young Gabriele (Ella) Münter falls in love with her married teacher, Wassily Kandinsky.

While their illicit love faces the disapproval of early 20th century European society, the two artists forge a partnership that will offer the world its first taste of Abstract Expressionism. Along with Alexei Jawlensky, Franz Marc, and other members of the Blue Rider, Münter and Kandinsky give birth to something truly new in art. Yet the delights of that heady time together are not to last, certainly not past the time of the Nazi purge of "Degenerate Art". Gabriel Munters life is a tale of love, betrayal, accomplishment, and courage in the face of historical and personal crisis. Saving Kandinsky is her story. Mary "Peetie" Basson serves as a Docent at the Milwaukee Art Museum which houses the largest collection of paintings by Gabriele Münter in North America. She is published in Persuasions and is the author of Saving Kandinsky, a novel about the life of the German painter Gabriele Münter. She and her husband Stephen live in Milwaukee. They are the parents of three grown sons.