1912 – Mission Moderne, Cologne

Cologne celebrates the centenary of the 1912 Sonderbund with 1912 – Mission Moderne. 120 masterpieces from the original exhibition have been brought back to Cologne for this new exhibition, including Van Gogh's Fischerboote am Strand von Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, 1888
© Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

The show ranges from Post-impressionism across German Expressionism, represented by the young painters of Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter, including August Macke (above, Rokoko, 1912)
© The Savings Bank Foundation DnB NOR, Dauerleihgabe im National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo

The 1912 exhibition aimed to show how various modern movements in Germany and France were indebted to the work of older masters. The influence of Van Gogh was clear in the work of the Expressionists, and with the Cologne show he became a universal hero (above, Allee bei Arles, 1888)
© Pommersches Landesmuseum, Greifswald

Munch was another artist whose work proved inspirational for Der Blaue Reiter in Munich, a group which included Kandinsky and August Macke (above, Munch's Vier Mädchen auf der Brücke, 1905)
© Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Köln; photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Köln

The works of Gauguin and Cézanne were included for their close relationship with the Nabi and Fauve movements in contemporary French Art (above, Gauguin's Tisch mit drei fressenden Hündchen, 1888)
© The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Georg Tappert often used urban entertainment as a subject for his works, such as Kreolin (1911), and was a key figure in the German Expressionist movement
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn; photo: bpk/Nationalgalerie, SMB/Jörg P. Anders

The broad scope of the exhibition also included contemporary artists from across Europe, including Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler, whose late works took on an Expressionist feel (above, Entzücktes Weib, 1911)
© Kunstmuseum Solothurn; photo: SIK-ISEA Zürich

All the Sonderbund paintings reflected a determination to take pictorial experimentation to its limits. Above, Egon Schiele's Mutter und Kind (II), 1912.
1912 – Mission Moderne runs at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, until 30 December
© Leopold Museum - Privatstiftung, Wien