# Paula Modersohn-Becker artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/paula-modersohn-becker/
Profile generated: 2026-05-25T03:26:30.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1876-02-08
- Nationality: German
- Movements: Early Expressionism
- Common media: Oil painting, Drawing

## About Paula Modersohn-Becker

Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876–1907) was a German painter and draftswoman recognized as one of the most important early Expressionists. Born in Dresden and raised in Bremen, she joined the Worpswede artists' colony in 1897 and trained in Berlin and Paris at the Académie Colarossi and École des Beaux-Arts. She was among the first German artists to grasp the revolutionary importance of Cézanne and Gauguin, whose influence shaped her bold approach to form and color. Over roughly a decade she produced more than 700 paintings and over 1,000 drawings before her death at age thirty-one. Modersohn-Becker is noted for her self-portraits—including nude and pregnant self-portraits that were unprecedented for a woman artist—and for still lifes and figurative works that bridge Post-Impressionism and Expressionism. The Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum in Bremen, opened in 1927, was the first museum in the world dedicated solely to a woman artist's work.

## Common works and media

Collectors and appraisers most commonly encounter Modersohn-Becker's oil paintings on canvas or board, including self-portraits, portraits of fellow Worpswede artists and local figures, still lifes, and moorland landscapes. Her drawings encompass figure studies, portrait sketches, and compositional studies in pencil, charcoal, and ink. Works on paper from her Berlin and Paris training periods also appear. Prints and reproductive posters of her best-known paintings circulate widely and should be distinguished from original works.

## Market and appraisal context

Paula Modersohn-Becker's brief career and substantial output mean that her works appear with some regularity at major auction houses specializing in German and European modern art. Oil paintings, especially self-portraits and figurative compositions from her mature Paris period, tend to attract the strongest collector interest. Drawings and works on paper also circulate. Provenance, attribution, condition, and the specific period of the work (Worpswede versus Paris) are key factors in appraisal. Because her career lasted only about a decade, scarcity of major works can affect availability. Collectors should verify authentication through documented provenance and consult current auction records for comparable lots.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from museum, library authority, and scholarly sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Paula Modersohn-Becker, identity and biographical data are grounded in multiple independent authority files and institutional sources; market observations are general until matched against specific auction results.

## Sources

- Art Directory / Paula Modersohn-Becker: http://www.paula-modersohn-becker.de
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q234370
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Modersohn-Becker
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500422180
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/36913211/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50000154
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/4037
- RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/56463