The Rotterdam Kunsthal's major winter exhibition is devoted to German Expressionism. Those with an interest in this movement wiLl inevitably come across the names of Paul and Martha Rauert. The Hamburg Lawyer and his wife were among a smaLl group of daring spirits who in the earLy decades of the twentieth century coLlected work by artists who excited vioLent controversy, such as Emil Nolde, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and their friends. Most of the Rauerts' legendary colLection. which pLayed a significant roLe in the recognition of avant-garde art. is stilL in the family. From this collection the Kunsthal presents some 25 paintings and 100 works on paper. supplemented by numerous documents, Letters, cards and early exhibition catalogues. all currently on loan to various museums. On show is work by Ernst Barlach, Walter Gramatte, Erich Heckel. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paula Modersohn-Becker. Emil Nolde. Franz RadziwiLl and Karl SchmidtRottluff.

Dedication
Before the turn of the century the Rauerts' purchases were sporadic. Their early acquisitions were prints by Max Klinger and works by contemporary French artists such as Edgar Chahine. Louis Payret d'Ortail and Maximilien Luce. The Rauerts' dedication to expressionistic art dates from 1907. when they came into contact with NoLde and Schmidt-Rottluff. Henceforth they systematically colLected work by expressionist painters. notably by members of Die Brucke group which had been founded in 1905. In 1908 Martha Rauert became a non-active member of Die Bru"cke: this opened the door to the world of the artists she admired so much.
The artists of Die Bru'~cke wanted to convey their impressions in a direct fashion. simpUfying and distorting forms and using expressive lines and compostions with broad planes to intensify nature. They appUed colour in flowing movements. using it as an autonomous expressive element. independently of the nature that served as their model. The representation of objects was supposed to be an expression of inner ideas and emotions.

'Degenerate'
The Nazis regarded expressionists like Nolde. Schmidt-RottLuff. Kirchner and Heckel as 'degenerate' and confiscated their paintings in public collections in 1937. At the Last moment the Rauerts managed to rescue the pictures they had lent to the Kunstha LIe in Hamburg. Their heirs are still collecting: ten sculptures by the German artist Karl Hartung (1908-1967) accompany the expressionist art in the exhibition. The timeless. imagery of these sculptures contrasts with the dramatic. painterly Expressionist works.
The exhibition will travel on from the Kunsthal to the Brucke Museum in Berlin.