Lecture

"I Agitate Against You With a Thousand Tongues of Love": Paula Modersohn-Becker and Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters

Sep 9, 2024, 10:30 PM

Ulrich Baer dives into the deeply personal letters between the two artists.

Sold Out

Ulrich Baer, Professor, New York University

Paula Modersohn-Becker and Rainer Maria Rilke, two of the most important creative artists of early twentieth-century Europe, enjoyed a close friendship that left in its wake a remarkable series of letters. These deeply personal letters offer a poignant portrait of their unusually intense relationship, and of the two artists' views on art, life, love, and marriage during a period of artistic upheaval.

Banner image: Paula Modersohn-Becker, Portrait of Rainer Maria Rilke (detail), 1906, oil tempera on cardboard mounted on wood. Paula-Modersohn-Becker-Stiftung, Bremen, on loan from a Private Collection. Photo: © Paula-Modersohn-Becker-Stiftung, Bremen