German expressionist artists at the turn of the 20th century conveyed in their works a deeply felt anxiety in view of a quickly modernizing world with its ostensible technical coldness, impersonality, and seeming lack of genuine spirit. At the same time their works served as a means to heal this anxiety and as such they show gleams of optimism which derived from their self-perception as being the driving force of spiritual advancement and the creation of a new human life world. It was especially in the case of Wassily Kandinsky and the association ‘Der Blaue Reiter’ that new religious currents like Theosophy had a profound impact on the aesthetics and philosophy of expressionist art. Generally speaking, the development of the religiosity shared by expressionist artists leaned towards forms of ‘alternative spirituality’ not least because of their avant-garde mentality, characterized by a strong urge to lead the way and change their society’s cultural life combined with a general anti-traditionalist attitude. These processes of the gradual dissolution of traditional forms of religious expression and of an increasing reflection on personal religious convictions, as they become visible in the avant-garde movements, may be considered a typical phenomenon of that kind of “wandering religiosity” (“vagierende Religiosität”) which Thomas Nipperdey found to be a basic trait of the religious and intellectual culture of the era of Wilhelminism in Germany around the turn of the 20th century. I therefore argue that - regarding the life and works of modern artists - a general turning away from religious matters cannot be stated. Instead, a multi-faceted confrontation with religious matters turned out to be an important part of their alternative forms of spirituality related to their work.