X

Google Doodle celebrates artist Paula Modersohn-Becker

During her brief career, the German painter helped introduce the world to modernism.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
Expertise I have more than 30 years' experience in journalism in the heart of the Silicon Valley.
Steven Musil
paula-modersohn-beckers-142nd-birthday-6273696422428672-2x
Google

Paula Modersohn-Becker was unconventional.

The German expressionist, born in 1876, made bold choices on her subject matter at a time when there were strict expectations put on women. She is regarded as the first female painter to paint nude self-portraits while other female artists didn't widely use female nudes as the subject of their paintings. She also painted women breastfeeding their children.

Modersohn-Becker isn't as well known as fellow artists like Pablo Picasso or Henri Matisse, but her intense images helped introduce the world to modernism during her brief career. To celebrate her contributions to art, Google has dedicated its Doodle on Thursday to Modersohn-Becker on her 142nd birthday.

Born in Dresden-Friedrichstadt, Modersohn-Becker was raised in a cultured and intellectual household environment. Her art studies began when she was 18, training in the methods of realism and naturalism. She later abandoned these techniques to embrace Fauvism, a brief period characterized by seemingly wild brush work and strong colors.

Her most productive years were 1906 and 1907, right before her death later that year, caused by an embolism that formed in her leg after she gave birth to her daughter. She was 31.

The Doodle, which mimics her artistic style depicting domestic subjects, was illustrated by Berlin-based duo Golden Cosmos.

Batteries Not Included: The CNET team shares experiences that remind us why tech stuff is cool.

CNET Magazine: Check out a sampling of the stories you'll find in CNET's newsstand edition.