Alexej Jawlensky

Alexej von Jawlensky (1864–1941) was a Russian expressionist painter who became a central figure in the German Expressionist movement, co-founding the Neue Künstlervereinigung München and later the Blue Four group alongside Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Lyonel Feininger. He is best known for his intensely colored, spiritually charged portraits and abstract head series, which reduced the human face to bold, iconic forms infused with mystical and emotional resonance. His work bridges Post-Impressionism and abstraction, drawing on influences from Matisse, folk art, and Russian Orthodox iconography.