Went to abstraction same time as Kandinsky: 1909. Girl in grey apron shows his knowledge of the fauves.2
Born March 13 in Torzhok.
From 82 attended a military academy in Moscow.
Started to paint. Is a lieutenant.
Moved to St. Petersburg: military duties and attended an
academy of art. In a circle with Ilya Repin, the most distinguished painter of the
day.
Met Marianne Werefkin, girlfriend.
Resigns and moves to Munich with Werefkin.
Studying in Anton Azbi’s Studio until 99.
Meets Kandinsky.
Goes to Normandy and Paris. Influenced by Van Gogh.
Goes to Brittany. Assimilating the practice and aesthetic
of the Pont-Avon School. Meets Matisse.
Met Verkade in Munich.
In Paris to work in Matisse’s studio.
Summer in Murnau with Kandinsky, Munter and Werefkin.
Cofounds Die Neue Kunstleruereinigung, The
New Artists Alliance.
To Paris again: meets Matisse again? Van Dongen? His style is fully developed.
Summer at Prerow on Baltic Coast.
Meets Klee and Nolde. Breakup of Die Neue
Kunstleruereinigung.
Verkade stopped on his way to Vienna in Munich and visited for the second time.
Goes to Switzerland, Saint-Prex on Lake Geneva. Puts an end to his sensuous painting. Expression turns to
contemplation. Paints his soul. From 1914-1918 he does a series of small Variations on a
Landscape Theme
Turns to human face but moves away from individual.
(likened to S-R’s style) Towards simple geometric structure, devotional; away
from realism.
Moves to Wiesbaden.
Dies March 15.
SOURCES
1. The Expressionists.
Wolf-Dieter Dube, trans by Mary Whittall. Thames and Hudson, 1972.
2. The Royal Academy of Art.
Derain to Kandinsky: Masters of Colour, 2000.