In 1911, the artists Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc resigned from the avant-garde New Artist Association to find greater freedom of expression. That same year they formed a rival group called Der Blaue Reiter (the Blue Rider), and in December held their first exhibition in Munich. The reason for that name is not completely clear, but we do know that Marc loved horses and that Kandinsky was fascinated by riding, seeing the horse as a symbol of power and freedom. (In 1903, he had titled a painting The Blue Rider.) The artists Alexander Sacharoff, Gabriele Münter, and Marianne Werefkin played important roles in the group. With more than 130 works on view, this exhibition looks at the Blue Rider’s collective experiment with color, sound, and light—all used to make bold, limitless art. —Jeanne Malle