What is Expressionism? The Art Movement Explained

What is Expressionism? The Art Movement Explained

Jul 20, 2022  #expressionism #art #artmovement
Expressionism swept through Europe at the start of the twentieth century, spurred on by resistance to bourgeois culture and a fervent search for rejuvenated creativity. Words that characterize Expressionist art and artists are 'self', 'psyche', 'body', 'sexuality', 'nature', and 'spirit'.

Learn more about Expressionism and the movement’s major artists and famous works at: https://magazine.artland.com/art-move...

#expressionism #art #expressionistart #artland #artmovement

-----------------------------------------

ARTWORKS
By order of appearance:

Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893.
Egon Schiele, Self-Portrait with Physalis, 1912.
Egon Schiele, Seated Woman with Bent Knee, 1917.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Marcella, 1909.
Franz Marc, Blue Horses, 1911.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Street, 1908.
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Houses at Night, 1912.
Edvard Munch, The smell of death, 1915.
Edvard Munch, The Death Struggle, 1915.
George Grosz, Metropolis, 1917.
Paul Gauguin, Femmes de Tahiti ou Sur la plage, 1891.
Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889.
Henri Matisse, Dance, 1910.
Wassily Kandinsky, Der Blaue Reiter, 1910.
Egon Schiele, Two Girls (lovers), 1911.
Oskar Kokoschka, Lovers with cat, 1917.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Self-Portrait as a Soldier, 1915.
Anselm Kiefer, Des Herbstes Runengespinst, 2006.
Eric Fischl, BBQ, 1982.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1981.


***
0:01
Does this artwork transmit any emotions to you?
0:04
Many emotions may come to your mind such as fear, anxiety or anguish.
0:08
The ability to express emotional experience rather than physical reality is in fact one of the
0:13
main characteristics of Expressionist art.
0:16
An artistic tendency rather than a coherent art movement, Expressionism swept through Europe
0:21
around the beginning of the 20th century as a reaction to the anxieties of modern urban life.
0:26
Using non-naturalistic colors and swirling textured brushstrokes, Expressionism conveyed
0:31
personal feelings, a profound sense of spirituality and an inherently modern state of alienation.
0:37
While French Expressionists, such as Van Gogh, Matisse and Gauguin, represented the world
0:42
around them not simply as it appeared to them, but from a subjective, human experience.
0:48
German Expressionists associated with groups such as The Bridge (Br;cke)
0:51
and The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter) took inspiration from mysticism,
0:56
the Middle Ages, and the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.
0:59
In Austria, on the other hand, Expressionism was a reaction against moral repression
1:04
and sexual hypocrisy, portraying topics such as death, sexuality and violence.
1:10
Even though the horrors of World War I and Nazi censorship officially marked the end
1:14
of the movement, Expressionism still continues to inspire and live on in later artists
1:18
and art movements.
1:20
Learn more about Expressionism at: magazine.artland.com