German Expressionism comprises the work created by the artists of two groups: Die Brücke (The Bridge) and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). The Brücke was formed in Dresden in 1905 by architecture students Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Hermann Max Pechstein, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Rejecting the prevailing tendency to imitate nature, they allowed emotion to dictate their approach to art. The Blaue Reiter was founded in Munich in 1911. Its members, notably Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, August Macke, Franz Marc, and Gabriele Münter, made work characterized by the exuberant use of color. Their breakthroughs led the way to abstract painting, which many of theseartists came to see as the highest spiritualization of art.