Berlin's Museum Barberini celebrates American modernism

Barberini Museum Director Ortrud Westheider chose this image to represent the exhibition "From Hopper to Rothko: America's Road to Modern Art." "Hopper is an artist that expresses the feelings of the modern man, independent of national borders," she said. His paintings depict themes of isolation and loneliness and still resonate with society today.

American collector Duncan Phillips was an avid supporter of artists like Arthur Dove, who is considered one of the first abstract painters in the United States. Phillips acquired this work in 1936 for his museum in Washington, DC. With its bold colors, the work touches on themes related to humans' experience with nature.

Hartley was a major advocate of abstract painting in the US and had a successful career in both Berlin and New England. He dedicated himself to promoting exchange between artists in the US and Europe and left a legacy of colorful landscape paintings, primarily of the state of Maine.

Artists like Color Field pioneer Kenneth Noland, who lived in Washington, regarded the Phillips Collection as an important place to see the works of European and American artists. The collection influenced Noland during formative years in which he created minimalist compositions that use shape and color in a simple manner.

This painting from 1968 is by legendary abstract painter Mark Rothko. Duncan Phillips, an early supporter of Rothko, gave the artist his own room in his museum, which is still known as the Rothko Room today. Phillips understood the artist's desire to have his works shown in their own isolated environment.

The exhibition shows seminal American art works from the first half of the 20th century. Many, however, remain unknown to the European public, such as this abstract work by Milton Avery. Depicting a wave at a beach on a large canvas, the piece is one of his most striking. Like several other prominent early American modernists, Avery was given a retrospective at the Phillips museum.

Many works from the American early modernist oeuvre touch on themes related to the manmade environment, as in this piece. Crawford often depicted industrial settings, including docks, bridges and grain elevators found in his childhood home of upstate New York. After working as a sailor, he studied at several institutions in Europe and the US.

This pioneering painter spent time in New York and Chicago, but was not a city dweller at heart. Labelled the "mother of American modernism," O'Keeffe's sensual works express a keen interest in the vast landscapes of western US states like Texas and New Mexico.