Gabriele Munter: Eat, Pray, Love and BETRAYAL!

Welcome back and summer updates

0:00Please enjoy this ringback tone while your podcast is reached.

0:11This is Raquel and Chelsea, and you're listening to Baroque Bitches.

0:30Welcome to Baroque Bitches, your art and art history gossip podcast. I'm Raquel. I'm Chelsea. Holy shit. It's been a minute. We're here. We're here. We didn't die. That was so rude of us to leave you guys hanging. I'm so sorry. Ew. Who are we? Ew. Yeah, this space has been, you know, we're ready. We're ready to come back.

1:02Summer just, like, fucks me up. Summer with kids is fucked up. Like, there is no set plan for child care. There's got to be, like, a term for it, like, post-summer stress syndrome. Like, I am so depleted. I've just crawled. I've been through the trenches. Dude. It's literally wild. But we're back, baby. Oh, my gosh. I'm so excited to be back.

1:33I'm so excited. And we appreciate, we appreciate you guys, like, reaching out and all of that. Being concerned. We love it. We love it. Yeah, we love you guys. So thank you so much, BBs. Yeah, how was your summer? Lots of, lots of changes. Chelsea got a new job for the 15th time this year. I, let's see, has it, I guess. Or since last year, I guess. Since last year. Since I, since I started, since I transitioned to back of house.

2:09It's been super fun. I love it. It's a nighttime baking gig. It's, it's super crazy. It's for crazy people. So, so that's, that's fun. It's just, you're surrounded by crazy people. But the good, the good kind of, the customers are asleep and gone and they can't even call me. Like, it's really, that's the best part for, like, my mental health at this, at this point in my, in my life journey of being a crazy person.

2:43So, yeah, that's been really fun. I've got, I've got the Pasadena Art Walk coming up. So, if you're in town, come and see me at the Pasadena Art Walk. I'm, like, totally not prepared for it. So, like, it's whatever. I'll have some very weird stuff for sale. So, that'll be, that'll be fun. So, yeah, we're, we're on, like, the opposite binary of, like, what is happening with 37-year-old women in America.

3:13Yeah, we have, like, one is, like, me deep in. And kid and mommy, mommy duties and, like, family, family duties. And corporate life and then on the opposite. Yeah, and boss babe life. And email and scary emails and, like, yeah, doing, doing, like, being boss mom and, like, also getting the bag and, like, doing that.

3:48And then you have, like, I don't know. And then we have boss babe on the opposite. I have no idea. Making the art thing happen. Moonlighting as a bakery, bakery chef. And still in the arts. And then we meet somewhere in the middle. You're waking up to go to work. You're welcome. I'm about to go to bed from my day. I just woke up. And this is the time when we're meeting. I just woke up. I'm like, oh, shit, yes.

4:19So, yeah, weird, weird, fun. Exactly what needs to be what needs to be. I mean, I've read so many places over the last week that, like, if you're, what, 31 to, like, 39, you're in the first season of Sex and the City. Never too late to reinvent yourself. But it's true. I, like, I only now, as a 37-year-old woman, feel like, oh, this is, like, where the exciting part of life is going to start happening.

4:51Where, like, you feel a little bit more like you know what you want to do. Even though I miss the fucked up part of just being, you know, party girl. But, yeah. Anyway, we're back. We're excited to keep going with the podcast for the foreseeable future. Yes. And we're thinking, like, a two-episode-a-month cadence for you guys. And then, of course, you know, if you want an extra full episode, you can get that on Patreon. And if you want bonus episodes of, like, Family Tea, Our Personal Life, and all that, catch that there.

5:25Oh, hello there, you beautiful creature. Looks like you can't get enough of the Baroque Bitches Art History Gossip Podcast. Do you want more juicy tea? Join our Patreon for exclusive access to bonus episodes, behind-the-scenes content, exclusive voting power, digital downloads, fun merch, and more. Become one of us, one of us, by going to patreon.com slash baroquebpodcast, or clicking the link on our website, baroquebpodcast.com, or clicking the link on our Instagram at baroque.b.podcast.

6:12Thank you for your support. We couldn't do any of this stuff without you. We love you.

Introducing artist Gabriele Munter

6:20Um, I'm so excited about this one today. This one is so fucking cool. I'm so excited. Like, what the fuck? So, I mean. And I don't know much about, I don't know much about this artist, so I'm like, I'm super stoked to know, because I know that there's, like, crazy tea. I did not know anything about this artist before doing this. And a lot of these guys, I want everyone on the listening to know, like, I don't know a lot about them. I mean, this is me, like, just putting together something for you guys and, like, learning along the way and having fun and, like, trying to, you know, be a learned 37-year-old.

7:01Um, so we hope, you know, the spirit of the podcast, what its intention was when we started out, to just be, like, fun. Yeah. And stupid. Stupid smart. We're not women in STEM, okay? Like, we're. We're not pioneering any research. We're just, like. The title of the podcast is Baroque Bitches. Don't get it twisted. This is just for funsies. It's for funsies. Funsies. Okay. Are you ready?

7:33We're. I'm. I'm freaking out. Yes. Ah. Yes. Ooh. Okay. Let's do it.

7:51It's intoxicating. That feeling of freedom when your skin finally hits the sunlight. My existence is a suffocating exercise in fabric and protocol locked away beneath heavy wool, bone corsetry, and floor-sweeping petticoats that treat the outdoors like a hazard. For years, I have known only the claustrophobic dark of high-button boots and heavy stockings, trapped in a relentless parade of drawing-room etiquette where a glimpse of skin was a scandal and a brisk walk was a hazard to the feminine virtue.

8:27But today, the parlor walls have finally shattered. As the heavy wheels of the bicycle begin to turn, the suffocating layers of yard upon yard of stifling cotton and wool part ways. For the first time, cool, rushing air floods up on my shin, kissing me with an unfiltered, reckless breeze. It's a thrilling act of rebellion with every rotation of the petals. The rigidity of pretend rules melt away, and the open doors to colors of blue, yellow, and green.

9:01The road stretches out like an invitation to a life entirely unwritten, and I am here to live it.

9:17So welcome to Eat, Pray, Love, and Betrayal!

9:26Gabrielle Munter! Ooh, that was such a good visualizer. I was visualizing that! I just, like, think, like, strappy, choking, constriction, and then you're, like, breaking away, you know? Yes! The stage! Ugh!

9:47So you know nothing? I know, yeah, I've seen some of the paintings, but other than that, like, I don't know the tea. Dude, this one's so good. I'm freaking out. I was, like, such a happy little stumble upon here. So, um, yeah, let's fucking do it. We're going to Germany, which, Germany, man, tough summer, dude. Fires, water, fucking rationing, ugh. And now this whole, oh, I'm not even going to get into the politics shit, but let me just say this.

10:22My heart goes out to you, Germany, from one country that elected a fucking crazy person to another that's, like, seeing that. Yeah. Okay. It's, yeah, politics make everything stupid. I just, like, have to, yeah, I have to disconnect.

Turn of the century Germany

10:40Anyway.

Turn of the century Germany

10:41Yeah. So, we're in turn-of-the-century Germany. We're going to the 1890s, early 1900s. The vibe, very patriarchal. Yeah.

10:55Patriarchal. Yeah. Boys are in charge. Boys are in charge. Yes, exactly. Boys are still in charge. Okay. Very, like, lady-in-waiting, women should paint pretty little watercolors of flowers while, you know, husbands are out fucking other women and hunting and stuff like that. Hunting.

11:16But the underground, you know, is starting to buzz. The avant-garde is brewing. People are getting tired of dusty old academic realism. And the modern era is kicking down the door. She's fucking, it's coming. You know, we feel it. Yeah. We want to be weird again. Let's be weird again. We want to get weird. And the only problem is, if you're a woman, the state-of-the-art academies literally will not let you in.

11:48So, if you, what do you do if you're a rebellious girl with a creative itch? You can't go to school. Can't do anything like that. And we're about to find the fuck out. So, Gabrielle Munter made her grand entrance into the world on February 19th, 1877, making her... Is that Aquaria? It's a cuspy Aquarius Pisces. Aquaria Pisces. An Aquarian, for sure. She is, like, so cosmically programmed to be eccentric, independent, visionary, with a deep well of, like, emotional intensity.

12:28It's, like, so hot. Check out the big brains on Gabby. So, okay, before, now that that's sending me to a new topic, that for Halloween, none of the young kids know who, because I want to be Jay and Silent Bob. Oh, okay. Nobody knows that reference. They're like, what is that? I'm like, yeah. Oh, you mean at the bakery?

12:58Or just anywhere. They're, like, I've, I've, I've, God, who else have I told? I've told a couple other people. I'm like, yeah, me and my husband want to be Jay and Silent Bob. And they're like, from what? I was like, you know, you don't know Jay and Silent Bob? Anyway, anyway, you know who Jay and Silent Bob is. Yeah, of course I know who Jay and Silent Bob is, but I'm a 90s kid, so, you know. Yeah, yeah.

13:28So, I guess I have to go to. You have to rethink that one. We're going to be fruit. Ooh, that's good. That's good. Fruit. Fruits and vegetables. That's so good. Yeah, so. Where's it going to be? So, I wanted to be a carrot, but my children are making me be corn. And. Oh, yeah, corn's better. Corn's better. Someone wants to be an eggplant. Fabi is going to be, I think, a watermelon.

13:58I can't remember. And then Diego wants to be a strawberry. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And I'm sorry, because I'm going to interrupt and get sidetracked, too. But, you know how people are always like.

14:13Tomatoes, not vegetable. It's a fruit. You know? Yeah. And they're always giving you a fucking hard time. Yeah. I'm like, okay, so over summer, this was like a big highlight of my summer. I'm like. Yeah. I'm going to fucking Google this. Why haven't I Googled this? Like, I need to get to the bottom of this. Is a tomato a fruit or a fucking vegetable? And so I Google it. Okay, this is the tea. This is the tea.

14:42So. Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? When you get into this conversation and people are like, no, the seeds are in the inside. The seeds on the outside. That's the difference. Da, da, da. That's not the fucking difference. Okay? I'm going to tell you what it is. And you can just, like, demystify this for any of the next time somebody's like. You're like, yeah, I want some vegetables. I'm going to have a zucchini. And they're like, zucchini is a fruit. You can be like, listen, bitch. All of it is fruit. All of it is fruit. All of it is fruit. All of it is the fruit of the plant. And a vegetable is a culinary term for savory fruits.

15:18Oh, dude. Fucking, yeah. I learned. I'm so. Remember where you learned this.

15:27If you already knew that, I, like, commend you because that means. Yeah, you're way too smart to be listening. Way ahead of me. Way. I think it's like an age thing, you know? Like, this is the thing about pre-internet people is that we were so used to just telling each other shit and not really being fully fact-checked. Totally. Totally. Like, that there's, like, people in McDonald's. Like, there's people meet in McDonald's. That was. Oh, okay. That was our fault.

15:58And yeah, so we're, like, spewing around all these falsehoods and, like, spreading misinformation like crazy. When Manson removed a rib so he can. Removed two of his ribs so he can suck his own dick. So he can suck his own wiener. That's. That's just a silly. Such a funny rumor. Like, that's just silliness. That we all believed in some capacity. I feel like he probably started that rumor just to, like, you know, get the buzz going on the street. Yeah. All right.

16:28But yeah, so you're welcome. Anyway. All right.

Family background and childhood

16:35So let's talk about Gabby's. It's all fruits. Gabby's parents. What are the wrens doing? So daddy. Dad. Daddy is Carl Friedrich Munter. Carl wasn't your average stuffy 19th century German patriarch. He was actually a wealthy dentist. But he was also, like, this total cosmopolitan, like, cool guy. He lived in America during the gold rush era, which sounds fucking ruthless. Like, frontier.

17:06I always, like, love thinking about that time of, like, people just eating beef jerky and being really sweaty and smelly. And, like, lost. This is mine. No, it's mine. Such a gnarly time to be here. So much murdering happening. Yeah. Lots of murdering. Pillaging. He was the one who planted the seed of transatlantic wanderlust in our little starlight Gabby today. So that'll come up later because of his American travel.

17:37And he was super supportive of her, you know, other dads during that time. It's, like, unheard of. It's whatevs. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it's a girl shit. We like dad. So. Cool. And mom, mom is Wilhelmine Schubler. And she was back in the bag. She had some serious cash. Oh. A wealthy heiress of a successful wool trading company.

18:09Okay. So she had a fat trust fund that eventually, yeah, we'll see how that plays into Will's life. Rich. Foreshadowing. Foreshadowing. Rich chick. Rich. Okay. So Gabby was born in the bustling industrial metropolis of Berlin when she was, uh, and when she was just a kid, though, her family packed up and they're like, we gotta go to the Burbs. We're not doing this. We're not doing the city thing.

18:40We thought we were a cosmopolitan. They basically did what we did. And they were like, we can't do the LA thing anymore. It was too hard. I don't want to fucking, like, take a bus to get groceries. But mom, I want to stay in the city. I'm a city girl, mom. I don't want to step on human poop when I'm walking outside. Like, I don't want to worry about that, you know? Yeah. I want to take my kids and move them to the safe suburbs where nobody can get them. Go somewhere nice. So they go to Koblenz in 1886. And this is, like, gorge, picturesque city, right on the banks of the Rhine River.

19:16It's quiet. It's scenic. And if you're a restless, artsy, Aquarius teenager, it's gonna be so boring. I hate it here. There's nothing to do. I remember so being like that as a kid. Like, I lived in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Like, Southern California beach area. I want to live in LA. And being like, oh, why'd you guys move here? It's so boring. I live so much more fun. I want to live in the city. There's nothing to do in Orange County.

19:47And now I'm like, oh my god, I could never afford to live there. It was such a nice place to grow up. Oh, it was, yeah. Aside from, like, you know, all the politics and stuff. But it's, like, beautiful and it's safe. It was wonderful. Yeah. But, so things are, like, going well. She doesn't have any real problems. Being bored is a privilege. I remind my children all the time. You're so lucky you get to be bored and not worried about having to starve or anything like that. Yeah. And as most successful artist luck would have it, something bad happens.

20:21And it's gone. And, yeah. Things were going well. You thought you were bored. Let me introduce the cold, harsh reality of life. So, her daddy. Daddy. The one who, like, he. Like, dad is, like, the best. Like, he's like, oh, you like art? Let me get you some private tutoring. Let me do this. You know, he's so supportive. Well, he dies when Gabrielle is only nine years old. Oh. Oh. Dad. Okay. Oh.

20:52Here we go. We hate it. And Wilhelmine was left to raise Gabby and her three siblings. And, I mean, mom, you know, she's loving and all. But she's also, like, fucking rocked by the loss of her husband. So, it's like, you know, growing up with grief. And then she also is, like, chronically ill. Oh. So, she's not, like, you know, tyrannical anti-art mom. But she's, you know. She's not doing good. She's not doing good. She doesn't have a lot of support.

21:23She doesn't, yeah, I mean, at that time. I mean, I'm complaining about not having a lot of support. This, this mama. She's going through it. It sucks. It sucks. But we got to remember, mom comes from a line of money. And so, she is, does provide, like, a comfortable, cultured, quiet environment. So, Gabby can grow up and be weird and creative. Like, she's okay with that. So, her entire adolescence is really shaped by the specific house full of women funded by Oldwood trading money wrapped in, like, Victorian-era mourning.

21:59But uniquely free from a dominant patriarch, right? So, it's, like, pluses and minuses. Pluses and minuses. A lot of other German moms would have been, like, very hyper-focused on who are you going to marry and that is your only goal. And that's not the case for her. Okay, good. Good. Yeah. So, when we get into the teen years, normally it would basically be, like, a highly choreographed performance. Like, you go into Cotillion, you sit in the chair, you go to high tea and, like, do stuff

22:35like that. And walk down a long staircase. You learn to, you learn French and how to embroider pillows and pour tea while looking pleasant. And she's, like, not having any of this preparatory work. So, she's, like, mom, fuck this. I don't want to curtsy. I'm going to be over here drawing in my notebook and being, like, the weird girl. I don't want to do ballet. I want to do karate. She's an Aquarius. We got to go against the grain.

23:06I'm like, and I, I don't like this. I don't like this. I don't care what anybody thinks. I'm not worried about it. Let me go draw my weird drawings in the corner. Yeah. I don't care if I'm pretty. I want to be cool. So, so mom's like, okay, and hires her a bunch of private tutors and also hires her another private painting tutor. Cool. Thanks, mom. So, so let's look up early, this early portrait of a man, 1898, see if you can find it.

23:37Portrait of a man, 1898, Gabrielle Munter.

23:431898.

23:46Ooh, okay. Yeah. Okay. So we have like, you can see already early age, very talented, getting the academic realism down, but also showing the frustration with it and kind of wanting to push the edges away from just like, you know, that boring. I'm going to make it weird. I'm going to make it weird. I'm going to make it mine. Yeah. Okay.

24:17Yeah. We're getting pretty modernist. Yeah. I'm into it. I'm into it. Kind of focused a little bit. Yeah. So this is kind of like the vibe. Okay. That she's already showing at a young age.

Early art school and rebellion

24:33So by the time she was 20 years old in the spring of 1897, she convinces mom to let her go to Dusseldorf to attend a private ladies art school studying under Willie Spatz. And this is where she would have painted this painting. And it's a total snooze fest for her. Like even the art schools for women at the time were strictly segregated and deeply condescending. So they were basically taught to copy plaster casts and paint stiff academic realism, not

25:06like soul fired, juicy colors, anything like that. And she's frustrated. She feels the confines of that kind of teaching. You're not allowed to see a penis. You can't see naked. I mean, I guess you'll never use your virgin eyes. I can't handle it. Well, and it's like, you know, crazy. They're not letting girls or women go to art school in order to be artists. They're letting them go to fill out being full, well-rounded women.

25:37Like, I don't know if you saw Pride and Prejudice, but there's this really good scene where I think it's Judi Dench is like, like, do you play the piano forte? And she's like, I do, but not well. And she's like, do you paint? She's like, or do any of you or your sisters paint? And she's like, not one, like, she's asking her and grilling her on all of her, um, like, lady lessons that she has. And I mean, you have something to occupy you while you're bored as fuck and not allowed

26:11to do anything. You need to be a learned woman. Yeah. You need to be able to do all of these things and be moderately, like, you know, master of none in a way. Exactly. It's for your, it's for your little side gigs. When the children are at play, you have to have a little, you have to have a little side gig to keep you from going insane and putting your head in the oven. Right. Exactly. So. Yeah. So, but when we look at this painting, you know, we can see that she is.

26:46Yeah. I'm not going to do that. Being agreeable to, like, learning, like, the artistic training aspect and, like, getting to understand tone and shading and, um, and that's why we see such a muted palette. And it's technically proficient, but it's still, like, you can't deny that she still has, like, a vibrant energy, thick outlines. It's breaking out already. Like, she's in her first art school and she's not even able to, like, keep within, you know,

27:20that, the lesson plan. She's already, like, fucked this. Yeah. And it's, like, the very first time she's even at school. Um, it does remind me, um, I forget who did it and, like, um, my very first, I don't know if you were in my very first. I don't think so. I don't think so. I think you were still in Italy. But, um, like, my very first figure drawing class at Sonoma State. And, um, I think it was, God, I forget his last name, but Alex for our figure drawing. Oh, the guy with dreadlocks?

27:52No. No. Did he? No, no, no. Oh, the metal head dude? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He made, like, metal things. Yes, I remember that guy. And it was. Everything was in ballpoint pen. Yeah, everything was ballpoint pen. Like, silly, like, um, you draw on your. Dragons. Dragons. Metal head stuff. And, like, wizards and stuff. Super cool. And he did the, um, the model, but, like, did the super intricate head, like, demon head or something, a dragon head or something on her.

28:22And, like, obviously it was, it was really well done, too. So, but then, um, of course, I think it was Nate. It was Nate. Nate, like, totally shat on it. And, um, and was, like, yeah, Nate, Nate's being investigated, by the way. Mm-hmm. But, anyway. So much good tea. We're still following Sinema's day tea. Um, but, but, yeah, I thought, she's that, she's that kid of, like, I can do this really well.

28:53But. But I'm going to put a dragon head on it. Yeah. I'm going to make it weird. And the teacher's going to be pissed. And I'm not supposed to do that. And, um, but it's fine. Because it's going to be super memorable. Like, I remember that from so long ago. Yeah. For sure. No, that's it. And that's, like, you cannot, um, do what's already been done. Like, there is a value add to, like, learning what's been done before, right? Yeah. But with every artist that we see, there's a breaking out point. Hers is just extremely early on.

29:24There's, there's also no rules. So, it's pretty nice. Do whatever the fuck you want. Do whatever, do what you want. Well, so, she's all frustrated and bored again. Bored. What happens when she gets bored? Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Mom. Mom dies. Yeah. 1897. Gabby would have been 20. And then, so, in the span of, like, one decade, you know, a little bit over a decade, she loses both parents.

29:57So, boo. Yeah. 1890s. Boo. Boo. Rough. Rough time in the 1890s. Yeah. So, and an orphaned young woman would have been, like, highly vulnerable at the time. I feel like in the, like, in the movie, this is the part where the creepy uncle comes in and tries to marry you or something like that. You need me now. But remember that fat wood trading inheritance. Oh, bitch.

30:27Hell, yeah. So, Gabby and her sister look at that restrictive, heavy, corseted German society around them. And then they look at their massive bank accounts. And they're like, oh, what should we do? We don't have to do anything. We don't have to answer to mom, dad, husband, guardian.

30:50We don't have to do shit that you say. Why don't we have this fucking shit? We have, we have, fuck, what you think, money. Yeah, they fuck you money. Yeah.

American road trip and photography

31:01Exactly. So, they buy boat tickets. They pack their bags and head straight for the wild, wild west. We're going to America. We're going to the wild, wild west. Oh, my God. I know. This is an interesting choice. So, they're both unchaperoned. And Gabby buys the camera. That's important. And then they board a steamship. And they are intensively going to visit distant relatives who had immigrated.

31:32But that's really just, like, a total ruse. Because what they wanted to do is, like, have a transatlantic rum springa. Like, you know, they're fucking going for it. We want to party. We want to party. And this is where it gets weird. Because they don't go to high society New York or Boston or anything like that. They're like, no. We want to go to the wild, wild west. Missouri, Arkansas, and sprawling, sweaty Texas of all places. No, dude, Europeans love that shit, dude.

32:06Like, it is what it is. They love cowboys. They love, like, the lawlessness of everything. Because everything is so, like, you know, quote, unquote, untouched. Yeah, I mean, think about it. I get it. I get it. It's, like, unbridled. It's, like, you know, you're letting your hair down. I'm picturing the corset coming off. Picturing a lot of, like, flouncy pajamas and just, like, maybe pants. And trains.

32:37And taking the trains. And trains. And, like, loose ponytails and, like, soot on your face and stuff. Like, let's get dirty. Fuck this. And, yeah. Just, like, unbridled freedom, right? Totally. Nobody out in rural Texas is going to give a shit about your European parlor etiquette. You know, they're out riding bicycles, which for women in the late 1890s was, like, the ultimate. We're going to put something between our legs.

33:09Like, the ultimate symbol of feminist liberation, right? Yes. We can do it. And a fantastic excuse to, like, show a little leg, right? And get those ankles out. Yeah, they're in their slut era, dude. Like, bitch, let's go. And they're also in their Kodak era. So, here's when Gabby goes from wealthy tourist to total visual visionary. So, she gets herself a Kodak bullseye number two camera.

33:40And in 1998, having, like, a personal portable camera was basically, like, I don't know, like a Birken bag, right? Like, it's, like, a fucking symbol of, like, what? Like, hot wealth. Maybe it's, like, a going to space casualty or casually, like Katy Perry did. That was so fucking annoying to me anyway. But you get it, right? It's, like, an obtainable high-level amount of wealth. It was cutting edge. It was sexy.

34:11But most importantly, it meant you could control some sort of narrative. So, over the course of the next two years, she snaps over 400 photos and is literally inventing the vacation photo dump before the grid's even here. She's like, I'm going to just take all these pictures. Yeah, she is her. She's a prototype. Okay. Yeah. She's taking photos of all of it. Landscapes, weird farm machinery, locals going about their day, unapologetic, candid shots of her and her sister just living.

34:43I mean, you have to think, like, photos at this time would have been reserved for, like, your wedding day. Like, you know, like, taking. Yeah, the start of photography was, like, mostly in the studio. And you would have to pay a guy to do the lighting and do all the things. Now they have a portable, the Kodak, you know, changed the game with portable cameras. And you get to just, you just get to go nuts and do all these candid photos and be creative.

35:14Yeah. So much fun. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it completely rewires her brain, too. I mean, she's coming from stuffy art academics where she's not even allowed in the door of an artistic conversation. Like, if a woman did learn art, she was told what to look at, how to sit, how to paint. And now she has this camera that it's, like, unadulterated power, right? She can do whatever she wants with it and nobody can tell her otherwise. She learns how to compose image, how to crop out boring parts, how to, like, frame a subject purely based on her own perspective.

35:48And gives her more, like, visual authority. Yeah. And you're in the Wild West. Do you have the, who gives a fuck what you do? You're chilling. Look wherever the hell you want, bitch. You got money. You got cash. Yeah. And you're in the middle of nowhere. And a totally different place with no rules. You can do what you want, bitch. Like, have fun. Be in your slut era. Yeah, absolutely. So, when it's time to go back to Germany, like, you can't put a bitch back in a corset once she's worn leggings and sweatpants.

36:22Like, we're not doing it, okay? Yeah. We're not doing it. If I never see a high hill again, it'll be too soon. You're going to judge me for all my, like, thirst trap photos that I was doing in Texas.

36:38Yeah, I can't. I can't be back with you people. No. And the polite German marriage market looks like an absolute joke to her. Like, we're not doing this. No, no, no. I am bursting with visual ideas. I am flush with cash, and I'm addicted to independence. Not getting a husband. I just want canvas. And she's ready to conquer Munich. So, we're not going to stay in this little nothing town. We're going to go to where it's bustling. It's basically like her New York, right?

37:11Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, we're going to the city, bitch. We're going to the city, bitch. We're going to the city.

Munich avant-garde and Kandinsky

37:17Yeah. And she might just cross paths with a certain brooding Russian art teacher. Oh. So, foreshadowing, foreshadowing, foreshadowing, foreshadowing, foreshadowing. Okay. So, it's 1901. We're, you know, we're back. We've got our film. We've got a head full of ideas. And at the time, Munich is like the beating heart of European avant-garde. It had major Brooklyn in the 2010s and energy. It's like starving artists everywhere. Smoky cafes, radical philosophers, a whole lot of people drinking absinthe and arguing about the meaning of life and that whole annoying but like also very romantic artistic thing.

37:57What is art? What is life? What is life? Does anything matter? Do I matter? Do you matter? Are you real? Am I real? Are we even talking? I don't know. It's like a very ketamine type of conversation. Ketamine.

38:12Are we in the matrix? Have you taken it? Witch pill. Yeah, witch pill. And now she's like, fuck, yeah. I'm going to dive in. I'm going to be a real artist. But there's this massive patriarchal brick wall standing in her way. The prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts has a strict no girls allowed policy. And the male gatekeepers of the era firmly believe that if a woman is allowed to look at a nude model, society would basically collapse, right?

38:44The world, as we knew it, wouldn't plan. We can't do it. Our ovaries will come out of our bodies.

38:53This is always like a surprising move to me that she wants to go to school again. But she does. Like she wants to go to school again. Because she's like, I don't know where. Expansive knowledge. Yeah. You want to just know more. Yeah. Like I don't know where to meet artists. I don't know how to do this. There's no Instagram of people, you know, selling you those. Give me one dollar and I'll tell you the plan of how you get rich. Six schemes. Yeah. Nothing like that. Yeah. You have to go to school to learn more. I guess that's it.

39:23I just like I was surprised that she wanted to go back to school. But anyway, so she wants to go back to school and she goes to the Falling School. And this is a new underground, like very progressive art collective. Like so this part makes sense to me. They're more radical and they hate the rigid academic system. Okay. And they let women take the same exact classes as men. Including painting from live new models.

39:55So this is like, she's like, fuck yeah, finally. My place. Yeah. I'm here. I figured it out. As she's like looking for where to go. She walks into the sculpture and painting classes and she's like, hello. And the world did not implode. Let me tell you. Yeah. And who happens to be the director of this little rebellious school? Hot. Somebody hot. Somebody that's too hot. He might be hot. He might be a little charismatic.

40:26Yeah. He might be a little into like spiritualism. Oh, new agey art teacher. Wassily freaking Kandinsky. So. The boy. Yeah. Okay. She meets a boy. Here we go. Okay. So. Let's. This is the meet cute. This is the meet cute. So let's set the scene. Kandinsky is 35, which let me remind you, that's basically 57 in modern times.

40:56He's Russian. He's a former law professor who gave it all up to paint. Hot. And he has this like brooding intellectual intensity. And it's like. Yeah. It's that. Oh, it's a whole art student, you know, teacher student vibe too. Yeah. And Gabs is 24. Taylor's the oldest time. Taylor's the oldest time. Yeah. We saw like three people go through this in Sonoma. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And it's just joining us on Patreon.

41:31All right. Anyway. Anyway. Hot art teacher. Ready. Let's go. We're talking. We're talking naked. We're going to see naked people together. And she's 24. Nothing to lose. And she's hot. Yeah. Whatevs. I'm liberated. But then he's not just like, oh, she's hot. He finds her work. And this is like the cute part. He like looks at her work and he's like, oh, God. Never seen anything. He's used to female students painting like delicate, polite little flowers.

42:05And she's laying down thick, confident, aggressive lines. She isn't painting to be pretty. She's painting to be felt.

42:15But it's good. And so this is a fun little quote from Kandinsky writing to her. You are as hopeless as you are hopeless as a student. You cannot be taught. You have everything by nature. What I can do for you is only to protect your talent and see that nothing false touches it.

42:38That is like, are you kidding me? That's everything an Aquarius wants to hear. What? Yeah. I am to be untamed. Be ungovernable. That's my favorite thing. Yeah. Be ungovernable. Be ungovernable. But to like, not only are you in love with my work, you love it so much that you want to protect it and you want to protect me. That is so sexy. Like kidding me? Yes, Kandinsky.

43:09But there's one pretty big, glaring, massive drawback to this. He's a man. Well.

43:18And he's going to fuck it up somehow. He's married. Yep. He's the man. Yep. There you go. There you go.

43:33We've got a cheater. Once a cheater, always a cheater. Kandinsky's married to his cousin, Anja Chimyakina. Okay.

43:46Okay. But I mean, this connection ain't lying. There's nothing to stop it. They can't stay away from each other. The classroom could take, I mean, you remember crits, right? Yeah. They could feel tense and like a certain sexual kind of way.

44:09I just gave away the painting. I did this painting of like this little baby sucking on this giant titty. You gave it away? I did. I gave it away. I had to get it out of my house. I had weird energy. And so it's going to be at Goodwill if you want to go to the Goodwill and fucking test it. Oh my God. Oh, it's going to be there. And it's like dripping with milk at the top of it. It's like milk dripping everywhere.

44:39And then like milk is all over the titty. I remember the critique of just like so uncomfortable. But also like we can tell that it's, there's a giant titty right there. So we all have to talk about it. And it's so much fun. There's so many uncomfortable, like, well, this is, so this is a picture of your naked body.

45:11It's so, it's so cliche and comical. It's so fun. No, but it is fun to get this male dominated crew up talking about, you know, tits and cum and stuff. And all of your paintings with the cum out of her son. So good. My entire art school career was just to fuck with the male dominance of it all. Yeah. Okay. But this is not that story. I mean, in a way it is because there's definitely, you know, all the sexual tension.

45:44Yeah. Yeah. Look how sexy this painting is. Yeah, the crits, there's like a lot of sexual tension in these crits. And every conversation about color theory is basically a thinly veiled confession of a lust. Oh, when you make this with this. That's crazy.

46:12Okay. Okay, the colors, the colors got them.

Alpine painting in Murnau

46:16Okay, that's crazy. So, by the summer of 1902, the Fallon School takes a summer painting excursion to Kotschel, which is like a scenic little town in the Bavarian Alps. And it's supposed to be a nice educational trip for the students. Going on a field trip. But I feel like this is a total cover-up for them to just, like, have a very intense Alp backdrop sound of music kind of fucking, oh, that's fucking iffy.

46:50I mean, we have the German Alps in the background, smell pine trees, and Gabrielle and Mosquely sneaking away with their easel on their little bicycles for the landscape, if you know what I mean. A little ice cream.

47:08Far away from the prying eyes of Munich society and his wife. It's romantic. It's illicit. And it completely fuses their artistic and personal lives together. She's not just his student anymore. She is his equal, his lover, and his greatest creative catalyst together. This is going to fuck shit up in the art world. Yeah, you just fucked it all up. What do you do? What do you do when you're in love with somebody that's married at this time?

47:40You've got to blow it up. I heard a really fun one that I'm going to say forever now is the life is like a snow globe. It's only beautiful when you shake it up. Damn. I like that one. I'm saying that one forever. I did not see that one going in that direction. I was like, snow globe. How's this going to end? Oh, okay. That makes sense. That makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah. You got to throw a wrench in there. You got to have a tower moment. Burn it all down.

48:10Well, they're not ready for that yet. So in 1908, they discover this little tiny town in Murnau, and it's like in the foothills of the Bavarian Elmsport. Let's go live here. Yeah, she buys a small house there, and this becomes like the spot, her spot and his spot. And the locals, I mean, this is like a tiny town, and they quickly dub it the Russian house

48:43because of its scandalous inhabitants, and the neighbors are like fucking shooketh by this. How are you living together out of wedlock? And their artistic friends all have a bad habit of running around naked by the local lake. These people are like, what the fuck are you guys doing here? Why are you coming to our tiny town of all places? Our little cute town, and causing a scene. Fun.

49:12Let's go freak out the locals.

49:16That's always the start to the best night. Right? And inside the house, they're totally having their like Van Gogh moments too. They're painting all the furniture like wild colors. Just fucking doing it. Yeah. Yeah. Having fun. Doing the thing. Being bohemian. Absolutely. And this is where Gabby starts popping off artistically. She's super inspired by the Bavarian folk art, and behind the glass, and the alpine landscape,

49:48and she quickly strips away the polite perspective and starts doing like that phovis, toxic yellows, glowing blues, black outlines. She's trailblazing it into early expressionism, and her style is so revolutionary that even Kandinsky's like taking notes of her. Yeah, no shit. Yeah, we know. We know how this is going to go. We know. We know. So, look up Fisherman's House, 1908, Blue Mountain.

50:21Fisherman's House.

50:25Okay.

50:28Yeah. So, this is like the moment of that breakaway. Yes. And the piece, it's like a flat, intensely saturated fields of color, vivid green fields, a stark red roof, and an electric blue boat sitting against the backdrop of like an alpine landscape. And it's just two coats of paint. Yeah. A la prima. A la prima. Um, so it's, and it's reverse glass painting.

51:01Mmm. How cool. So, every shape and color plane is like forcefully locked into place by that thick black outline. Yeah. And it gives what is a quiet rural scene a more pulsing, like raw energy. Super saturated colors, really bold lines, super flat graphic chunks. And then you can totally see all the color theory stuff she's learned in, um, in her.

51:31More formal education. Yeah. And her studies, you can see that, you know, how to make a natural looking black, that kind of stuff. But, of course, she like flips it and reverses it and makes this crazy thing. And, yeah, it's like chunky, energetic, kind of like psychedelic, kind of, yeah, like with the saturation, but still, still like a weird amount of little bit of depth to it. Funky. Funky. She's cool.

52:03Yeah. She has so many of these like chunky landscapes. Yeah. Absolutely. Really good. Oh, I want to paint like that. I don't have the balls. Yes, you do. I know. She's giving me the cojones. She's giving it to me like you can, you can do it. You can do it. You know, it doesn't have to be nice. It can be chunky and weird. Yeah. Get weird. I was just, I was like a weird side note for my, um, I've been going to Reiki therapy

52:35because, yeah, no, I'm woo-woo. Okay. Like, don't, don't freak out. It's not hurting anybody. Um, so I went to my Reiki practitioner. Like, she's like really nice. And she told me, she's like, I don't know. She also like, like gets messaging and things like, like energetic messaging and things like that. And she's like, I don't know, um, what, one, what, one of your guides is saying, but they're saying something like, let your freak flag fly. I'm like, bitch, what the, yes, I need to, I need to, I need to get freakier.

53:10Um, this is, yeah, this is giving me that energy of like, yeah, you're right. You're right. Gabrielle. I think we can all learn from Gabs. I think we all need to get there. Okay. So then, but this, it gets even cooler.

The Blue Rider movement

53:24It gets even cooler. By 1911, things in the Munich arts team are getting politically and stylistically messy. Kandinsky and a group of radicals break away from the more conservative artists association, which is, I'm going to fucking butcher this. Neil Kuntzlewergenmuken. That's a lot of vowels, German. But it's basically. Vowels, you guys. But it's basically like they're breaking, they're breaking off from this formal, um,

53:59artist association, which would have been a big deal. And they're, they're saying like, no, we're going to create our new co-op. And, and so he pairs up with fellow radical painter, Franz Mark, and they organize a parallel exhibition.

54:21So they named this movement, the blue writer or der Blau writer.

54:27And the name comes from a shared obsession of Kandinsky's love of horse and rider motifs, symbolizing the fight for like spiritual breakthrough and Mark's obsession with horses and a mutual obsession with the color blue, which they agree is the most spiritual color in existence. Like all this stuff is so important to them. Right. Yeah. He was the most spiritual color. Like you have to agree on that. So there was a lot of things happening in like, in Germany and the Netherlands and, um, all,

54:59all these, all these more like Nordic places at the, at this time when it comes to, um, visual arts. And I feel like everyone was trying to have their moment of like, I invented this. We have Mondrian on Patreon. Mondrian talks about like, no, you can't have a, a diagonal. That's against the rules. Yeah. Like everybody has these like weird rules. It's like, dude, you guys lay off the drugs. This is the best color. Okay.

55:29Too many drugs gets you weird. Um, it was, and yeah, this is definitely one of those. It's like, let's get, you know what they're like saying like, fuck all these rules. I'm going to go make a bunch of my own. Right. I'm going to do, this is actually the rules. Like there's the new rule there. There was, I think there was a South Park episode where the, one of the, one of the kids was trying to be, um, with the goths and they're like, yeah, we're non-conformist. It's the only thing that gets you into Arco.

55:59You have to wear black. Yeah. Like, okay. That's like exactly it. It's exactly it. You have separate rules. Yeah. It's just like, your rules are weirder. You have alternative rules. Your rules are weirder. They don't make any sense. I get it. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. You also have to look like Garst that is, though. Well, but it is, I mean, I will say it is cool that they're creating this thing. Gabby's right at the center of it all. She's contributing her own revolutionary paintings and writing for their, like, almanac.

56:33And despite the occasional grumbling from her male peers who are, like, having a hard time sharing the spotlight. Because, you know, men don't, like, there's nothing men hate more than an intimidating, talented woman. Yeah. So, they have a couple of chaotic, brilliant years.

World War I and abandonment

56:53They're on top of the world. And then, wah, wah, wah, World War I blows the whole thing apart. So, the Great War hits in 1914 like a sledgehammer to the avant-garde dream. Because Kandinsky is a Russian citizen living in Germany. And he is suddenly classified as an enemy alien and has to flee immediately. Yeah. So, he packs his bags and escapes to Switzerland and then eventually back to Russia. And this is, like, a temporary plan.

57:24And they promise they're going to meet up in a neutral country. Gabrielle travels to Sweden to wait. Or, she travels to Sweden to wait for him. She's expecting this big romantic union. And instead, what she gets is, like, radio fucking silence. A whole lot of nothing. Followed by, like, months of agonizing isolation in war-torn Europe. Yeah. Yeah. On top of, like, oh, everything is flipped on its head. I mean, this is not, yeah.

57:54This is not a, like, left-on-red situation. This is, like, he's probably dead situation. He might be dead. Just, like, left waiting on her for years. And this is fucked. Because Kandinsky bails. Like, he, not only does he stay in Russia, but in 1917, Gabby's still waiting for him. And in Stockholm, he abruptly marries. Like, a new girl. Nina Adrovinsky. A wealthy Russian general's daughter. Less than half his age.

58:25Yeah. As you do. Because he's a man. Yeah, because he's a man. And that's a problem. That was the first problem. That was the problem. In the beginning, girl. But let's just pause for a second. This is, like, it gets more infuriating. She has financed all of their travels. She has sheltered him in her home in Murnau. Yeah. She's defending his genius while putting up with his messy personal lifestyle. Yeah. And then he fucking ghosts her for years and marries a teenager.

58:56Marries another, yeah. This other girl that he's groomed. Like, what the fuck? What the fuck? So, okay. Yeah. So, naturally, she has an absolute nervous fucking breakdown. And she retreats into a dark, silent void. And she stops painting entirely. No. Okay. So, fuck. Yeah. It sounds like depression. She's like, yeah, for sure. She spends the 1920s wandering between Germany, Switzerland, France, completely heartbroken, creatively paralyzed.

59:28It takes her nearly a decade to pick up a brush again. Ah, Kandensi, what did you do to her? Okay, but listen. Okay, it's okay. Just wait. Just wait.

Hiding art during Nazi rule

59:39So, we fast forward to the 1930s. And the political climate in Germany is still, like, fucking terrifyingly dark. Nazi parties rising to power. And they have very strong opinions about modern art, as most of you probably know. If you don't, it's totally cool. They label everything Kandensi, Munter, and the Blue Rider crew created as degenerate art. Yeah. And, you know, go on this crusade to try and destroy all of it.

1:00:09Modern art is publicly mocked, seized, and burned in the streets. Kandensi, he's long gone. Like, he doesn't live in Germany. This doesn't affect him. He's living safely in Paris. But all of his work is still in Germany. And this is where she becomes an absolute legend of silent, defiant badassery. So, she knows that Gestapo were hunting down pieces. She sneaks into her old house in Murnau, packs up all of her own paintings into crates, and takes dozens of his paintings that were also there.

1:00:47Like, all the paintings from their golden era together, and hides them deep in the basement of her home. For over a decade, Nazis come, march through Europe, bombs fall all around her. They come, they search her house everywhere. They never find the basement, cash. She plays dumb, protects the art with her life, and outlasts the entire fascist regime. I like to paint bowls of fruit. I don't know. What? I don't know. Kandensi who?

1:01:19Yeah. That sounds like a semi I wouldn't be associated with. I don't know. I don't know what you're talking about. You're talking about abstraction? I don't know what that is. I don't know what that is. I don't know what you're – I'm not allowed to look at penises. Dumb rich girl. Well, okay. This is fucking legendary, though. So, on her 80th birthday in 1957. Okay. It's, like, so fucking wild. She does something insane.

1:01:51She doesn't ask for permission. She doesn't call Kandensi's widow. She takes the entire fucking collection. It's all immaculately preserved of Blue Rider paintings, over 80 paintings by Kandensi, plus hundreds of her own works and pieces by Franz Mark, Paul Klee, August Mackey, and donates the entire collection to the Lundbach House Museum in Munich. So, it instantly turns that museum into one of the most important modern art museums in the entire world.

1:02:24Yeah. Yeah. And just, like – It's going to be – this shit's going to be celebrated here. Well, because Kandensi, you can bet your ass he's not going to give her any fucking credit for this, right? No. And so, when she does this, it's, like, she takes back power and control and the whole narrative of everything that ever happened and designates this museum in Munich as, like, that most important spot. Yeah. She's, like, taking the higher ground on it, too. And doesn't let them sell it.

1:02:54Doesn't, like, profit off of it. She's like, nope. We're just going to do this. Yeah. These are mine. I got them. I snuck in, which was, you know, a risk to my life. Well, and on top of that, she's putting herself into that history of, like, hey, this entire collection I'm giving you was all created at the same time. And guess who – guess what? I was right there with them.

1:03:24There's no way I would have had this had I not been there, an integral part of this. I'm not going to be written out of this story. Exactly. I'm not going to not be in this picture when I was, like, so important to the whole thing. Totally.

1:03:39I know. She's so cool. She's so fucking cool.

1:03:44So, she spends her final years living quietly in Murnau and passed away on May 19, 1962. She leaves behind a remarkable legacy as a pioneer woman of modernism. Fucking a mad ass.

Legacy and next episode preview

1:04:00Okay. And the person at the party, you guys might love, hate this. I don't know. You guys might have strong feelings. Okay. We all have lots of feelings. Okay. I was just, like, trying to think of somebody who shared kind of an uncanny blueprint for cultural warfare, brand ownership, and somebody who's been burned by a lot of lovers. So, obviously, it's Taylor Swift. Okay. Okay.

1:04:31I feel like she really has mastered the art of, like, weaponizing her own artistic autonomy against a heavily gatekept patriarchal machine. Like, she owns all of her own music. She's re-recorded her entire catalog, you know, making sure that she retains all that ownership and doesn't have to deal with high stakes, like, corporate portrayal. So, Munter spent decades starting her pricelet cachet in a basement. Obviously, there's a thing.

1:05:02Yeah. She knows where her power is. Another famous Sagittarius. Yes. And, yeah, even though I'm not a Swifty myself, I think. I'm not either. But she doesn't. She doesn't want me to do that. I like that one song. I'm the problem. I say I'm the problem. It's me all the fucking time, dude. Especially in the kitchen, dude. It's me. It's me. It's actually me. I fucked up. I fucked up that one. I'm the problem. And it's good to be humble. It's definitely good to be humble. I like the one, but I'm just trying to think there's been, there's been some controversy

1:05:40because I think her, um, the Madison Square Garden thing wedding was annoying, right? Yeah. Of like, yeah, the wedding stuff. I mean, it is what it is. This, this, like, um, the narrative of that, I guess you've created of like having these many boyfriends and stuff, it had to, it had to end off in something like, I finally did it. And now I'm a little afraid because I don't know anything about football or anything. So he might be amazing, but, um, now he wants to be like a country music star.

1:06:16So I'm a little bit like, okay, this is their blue rider period. Yeah. I was like, all righty then. Like maybe stick to football. I don't know. You seem good at that. I don't know. Well, we'll find out. No, we will find out. I think, yeah, that's, yeah, she's, she's definitely like a cultural icon. And, um, I think has been like unspoken, uh, outspoken about things, certain things politically. I'm sure there's also things that I don't know.

1:06:47That's like, oh yeah, that was problematic or whatever. But, um, but yeah, no, I think like taking ownership of your talents and, um, not giving in, not, not giving up. I think that's what you gotta do. And sometimes you gotta admit that you're the problem. Like, it's me, honey, I'm the problem, it's me. Yeah, dude. So that's her girl. Gab's moved here. Go check her out. Good one. And come back in a couple weeks.

1:07:18We'll see you again. We're gonna have a really big one for you guys. I know, I know it has been, um, requested. Baby was like, when are you guys gonna do Picasso? I was like, I don't know if we are gonna do Picasso. Honey, no. I know. Listen, we've already talked about him enough. Yeah, that's what I said. However, we're gonna do one that you guys have requested. Diego Velasquez. Ooh. So, yeah, we're going back to the Renaissance, you guys. So let's get into some, some deep history.

1:07:49And, um, get into these little stinky butts. And see where, see how stinky it could get. Hell yeah. It's gonna be a good one. And of course, you can check us out on Patreon. We're gonna have, um, some bonus episodes up for you guys. We still have, um, all of our episodes that we've ever done on Patreon. So we have a long list of bonus episodes if you did want to check us out. And if you prefer, if you're a visual learner and want the video, it's on there. The video with, with us, um, and my, my janky camera and my somewhat janky editing.

1:08:24So, but it's fun. We have fun with it. And we have Piet Mondrian, or Piet Mondrian and, um, Paul McCarthy. Hello. Hello. On Patreon. As well as our Family Tea episodes for top tier members. And if you can't do any of that, it's totally fine. It's totally fine. It's totally fine. Just keep listening.

1:08:53Well, we love you. Bye. Well, I get by with the people I know, get by with the people I know. And it seems like everywhere I go, yeah, everywhere I go.

1:09:24Well, some do and some they don't, and some I guess just won't. So I get by with the people I know, get by with the people I know. Watch your hang-up, come and dance with me. Blowin' a bitchin' on, come dance with me. Blowin' a bitchin' on, come and dance with me.

1:10:16With the people I know Get by with the people I know Watch out hang out Come and dance with me No inefficient heart Come dance with me No inefficient Come dance with me Come dance with me