Expressionism

Origin of the term

While the word expressionist was used in the modern
sense as early as 1850, its origin is sometimes traced to
paintings exhibited in 1901 in Paris by obscure artist Julien-
Auguste Hervé, which he called Expressionismes.

An alternate view is that the term was coined by the

Czech art historian Antonin Matějček in 1910 as the opposite
of Impressionism; where Impressionists looked outwards to
the real world, Expressionists searched inwards for deeper
meaning.

Historical and Cultural Contexts

The roots of Expressionism can be traced to certain Post-
Impressionist artists like Edvard Munch in Norway, as well as
Gustav Klimt of the Vienna Secession.

Expressionism first emerged in 1905, when a group of four German students guided by Ernst
Ludwig Kirchner founded the Die Brücke (The Bridge) group in the city of Dresden. Influenced by artists
such as Munch, van Gogh, and Ensor, they sought to convey raw emotion through provocative images of
modern society.

A few years later, in 1911, a like-minded group of young artists formed Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue
Rider) in Munich. Kandinsky and Franz Marc were its founders, whilst Paul Klee and August Macke were
among its members. The group shared an inclination towards abstraction, symbolic content, and
spiritual allusion, they sought to express the emotional aspects of being through highly symbolic and
brightly colored renderings.

These two groups became the foundation of the German Expressionism movement. Since then,
Expressionism became a widely recognized form of modern art.

Artistic Philosophy, Concepts, and Techniques

Through their confrontation with the urban world of the early-20 th century, Expressionist artists
developed a powerful mode of social criticism in their serpentine figural renderings and bold colors.
Their representations of the modern city included alienated individuals, a psychological byproduct of
recent urbanization as well as prostitutes, who were used to comment on capitalism’s role in the
emotional distancing of individuals within cities.

The arrival of Expressionism announced new standards in the creation and judgement of art. Art was
now meant to come forth from within the artist, rather than from a depiction of the external visual
world, and the standard for assessing the quality of a work of art became the character of the artist’s
feelings rather than an analysis of the composition.

Expressionist artists often employed swirling, swaying, and exaggeratedly executed brushstrokes in
the depiction of their subjects. These techniques were meant to convey the turgid emotional state of
the artist reacting to the anxieties of the modern world.
Representative Artists and Their Major Artworks
Edvard Munch

Throughout his artistic career, Munch focused on scenes of death, agony, and anxiety in distorted
and emotionally charged portraits, all themes and styles that would be adopted by the Expressionists.

Shown as the artwork representative of the art movement, The Scream is Munch’s most famous
painting depicting the battle between the individual and society. The Scream evokes the jolting emotion
of Munch’s experience and exhibits a general anxiety toward the tangible world. The representation of
the artist’s emotional response to a scene would form the basis of the Expressionists’ artistic
interpretations.

Anxiety also by Munch is closely related to The Scream, the faces show despair and the dark
colors show a depressed state. Critics believe that it’s meant to show heartbreak and sorrow, which are
common emotions all people feel.

Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893 Edvard Munch, Anxiety, 1894

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

He was a driving force in the Die Brücke

group that flourished in Dresden and Berlin before
World War I, and he has come to be seen as one of
the most talented and influential of Germany’s
Expressionists.
Wassily Kandinsky Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Girl On a Divan,
1906
One of the pioneers of abstract modern art,
he exploited the evocative interrelation between
color and form to create an aesthetic experience
that engaged the sight, sound, and emotions of the
public.

Wassily Kandinsky, The Blue Rider,

1903

References

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressionism

https://m.theartstory.org/movement/expressionism/

https://drawpaintacademy.com/expressionist-art-movement/