For Gabriele

“For Gabriele” was inspired by the story of early 20th century German Expressionist painter Gabriele Munter, a talented artist who toiled in the shadow of her mentor and lover Wassily Kandinsky, who eventually left her for a younger woman. Recovering from a deep depression, Münter continued to experiment with shifting styles, painting with bold colors and often imbuing mundane subjects with subtle but profound emotion. The Nazis denounced the work of Expressionists like Münter and her colleagues as degenerate, and she hid many of their paintings during World War II, saving them from destruction.