Ella & Kandinsky

Gabriele Münter's life is a story of courage in the face of personal and historical crisis. Ella & Kandinsky is her story.

While painting on a Bavarian mountainside, young Gabriele (Ella) Münter falls in love with her married teacher, Vasily Kandinsky. As their forbidden love faces the disapproval of early 20th century European society, a strong alliance is born between the artists, offering the world its first taste of abstract expressionism.

Together with Alexey Jawlensky, Franz Marc and other members of the group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), Münter and Kandinsky created a revolutionary and new artistic style. However, the pleasure of this heady time does not last long, as the First World War and separation arrive. The crucial test for Ella, however, comes a little later in the period of Nazi oppression, which places all modernists in the condemned category of "degenerate art". Tough times will test Ella's resolve, her values and her commitment to art and love.