A queer art exhibition in Germany shines a spotlight on marginalized modernist artists

A major new exhibition titled “Queer Modernism. 1900 to 1950” opens at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf, Germany, featuring over 130 works by 34 artists from Europe and the United States. The show highlights queer contributions to modernism during the first half of the 20th century, a period of both sexual liberation in cities like Paris and Berlin and severe persecution under fascism. Works include Lotte Laserstein's intimate portrait with her lover Traute Rose and Ludwig von Hofmann's painting “The Source,” once owned by Thomas Mann.