The Expressionism

Expressionism is an art movement that emerged in the early 20th century,

primarily in the fields of visual arts, literature, theater, and film. It is
characterized by a focus on expressing raw, emotional, and subjective
experiences rather than depicting objective reality. Expressionist artists and
creators sought to convey intense and often disturbing emotions, inner
turmoil, and the human psyche's complexities.
Key features of Expressionism include:
Emotional Intensity: Expressionist works often depict heightened emotions,
such as fear, anxiety, anger, and despair. Artists aimed to evoke strong
emotional responses in the viewer or audience.
Distortion and Exaggeration: Expressionists frequently employed distorted
and exaggerated forms, colors, and compositions to emphasize the emotional
impact of their work. This distortion could manifest in the depiction of human
figures, landscapes, or everyday objects.
Subjectivity: Expressionist artists valued personal and subjective experiences,
often drawing inspiration from their own inner thoughts, dreams, and fears.
This subjectivity contrasted with the objective, realistic representation of the
world seen in earlier art movements.
Rejection of Conventional Realism: Expressionists rejected the traditional
artistic conventions of realism and naturalism, which aimed to accurately
depict the external world. Instead, they embraced abstraction and symbolism
to convey deeper, often disturbing, truths about the human condition.
Social Critique: Many Expressionist works contained elements of social
critique, reflecting the tumultuous political and social climate of the early
20th century. Artists often used their work to comment on issues such as
urbanization, industrialization, war, and alienation.
Expressionism had a profound impact on various art forms, leading to the
creation of iconic works of art, literature, and theater. Prominent
Expressionist artists include painters like Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele, and
Wassily Kandinsky, as well as playwrights like August Strindberg and Franz
Kafka. The movement left a lasting legacy, influencing subsequent art
movements and contributing to the development of modern art.
REPRESENTING FEELINGS:

Expressionism is an artistic movement characterized precisely by its ability to

represent and express feelings in an intense and subjective manner.
Expressionist artists strive to convey deep emotions and moods through their
works, whether in painting, literature, theater, cinema, or music.
In Expressionism, artists tend to focus on representing the internal feelings
and emotional experiences of characters or themselves, rather than being
concerned with depicting objective reality."
DISTORTION OF REALITY:

Expressionism is an artistic movement characterized by its emphasis on

representing intense emotions and emotional states through the distortion of
reality. Expressionist artists often use visual and literary techniques that
distort and exaggerate reality to convey deep emotions and mental states.
1. Distortion of form: They deform figures and objects to express intense
emotions.
2. Use of unnatural colors: They employ vibrant and unrealistic colors to
create emotional atmospheres.
3. Unusual perspectives: They play with perspective and composition to
generate emotional imbalance.
4. Surreal environments: They create dreamlike or nightmarish worlds to
reflect extreme mental states.
Together, these distortions help convey deep emotions and explore human
psychology in Expressionism.
 Expressionism
refers to art in which the image of reality is distorted in order to make it
expressive of the artist's inner feelings or ideas.
Some characteristics of the expressionism
Extreme angles, flattened forms, garish colors, and distorted views distinguish
Expressionism, an international movement in art, architecture, literature, and
performance that flourished between 1905 and 1920, especially in Germany
and Austria.
Emotions and feelings
this current delves into the depths of the feelings, ideas and emotions of the
individual, from where dark themes and taboos emerge as a result of the
historical context (Germany between the wars): loneliness, misery, pessimism
and death are . They are represented by impressive colors and mixtures.
Impressionist painting was born in the second half of the 19th century and
wants, broadly speaking, to capture light and the moment, without caring too
much about the identity of that which projected it.
The most characteristic elements of expressionist works of art are color,
dynamism and feeling. The fundamental thing for painters at the beginning of
the century was not to reflect the world in a realistic and faithful way –
exactly the opposite of the impressionists – but, above all, to express their
inner world.
Expressionism was not a merely artistic or literary or even musical
movement, but a way of feeling the world. In reality, behind the paintings or
sculptures of expressionist artists there is a cry hidden. Anguish, terror,
misery and oppression are frequent themes in his works.
Distortion of reality

The expressionists used color palettes that were distinguished by being

artificial, brushstrokes with great energy and exaggerated textures in each of
their pieces. All of these characteristics resulted in avant-garde paintings that
favor the subjective over the real.
It rejects, therefore, the mere representation of appearances. Thus, it
cultivates drama, subjectivity and the expression of human feelings,
especially disappointment, terror, anguish, loneliness, human misery,
dispossession and disbelief.
Expressionism reflects the artists' disillusionment and criticism of the
bourgeois society of the time.
The art of distortion and exaggeration can completely transform an image,
giving new meaning, intent and feeling to subjects that would otherwise be
familiar to the eye.
showing a “disfigured” thing, in order to “say something,” to express
something. Let us think as an example of the best-known face with emotional
distortion in the history of painting: that of The Scream, by Munch.