German painter, born in Berlin. She was a talented pianist before she took up painting. In 1902 she became a pupil of *Kandinsky at the *Phalanx School in Munich and she was his lover until the First World War parted them in 1914 (he returned to Russia; she went to Switzerland). With Kandinsky and *Jawlensky she helped to found the *Neue Künstlervereinigung München in 1909 and she contributed to many of the most significant avant-garde exhibitions in Germany up to the First World War, including both *Blaue Reiter exhibitions. After the war she travelled a good deal before settling in Murnau (where she had previously lived with Kandinsky) in 1931. Their relationship had often been a difficult one (Kandinsky felt guilty because he was married and could not obtain a divorce), but she revered him as a man and artist: ‘He was a holy man…He loved, understood, treasured, and encouraged my talent.