- Choose your Country
- Choose your Country
Expressionism
Expressionism was a cultural movement originating in Germany at the start of the 20th-century as a reaction to positivism and other artistic movements such as naturalism and impressionism. It sought to express the meaning of “being alive” and emotional experience rather than physical reality. It is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an emotional effect, it is a subjective art form.
Expressionism is exhibited in many art forms, including: painting, literature, theatre, film, architecture and music. The term often implies emotional angst. In a general sense, painters such as Matthias Grunewald and El Greco can be called expressionist, though in practice, the term is applied mainly to 20th century works.
Although it is used as a term of reference, there has never been a distinct movement that called itself “expressionism”, apart from the use of the term by Herwarth Walden in his polemic magazine Der Sturm in 1912. The term is usually linked to paintings and graphic work in Germany at the turn of the century which challenged the academic traditions, particularly through the Die Brucke and Der Blaue Reiter groups. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche played a key role in originating modern expressionism by clarifying and serving as a conduit for previously neglected currents in ancient art.
In The Birth of Tragedy Nietzsche presented his theory of the ancient dualism between two types of aesthetic experience, namely the Apollonian and the Dionysian, a dualism between the plastic “art of sculpture”, of lyrical dream-inspiration, identity (the principium individuationis), order, regularity, and calm repose, and, on the other hand, the non-plastic “art of music”, of intoxication, forgetfulness, chaos, and the ecstatic dissolution of identity in the collective. The analogy with the world of the Greek gods typifies the relationship between these extremes: two godsons, incompatible and yet inseparable. According to Nietzsche, both elements are present in any work of art. The basic characteristics of expressionism are Dionysian: bold colours, distorted forms-in-dissolution, two-dimensional, without perspective.
More generally the term refers to art that expresses intense emotion. It is arguable that all artists are expressive but there is a long line of art production in which heavy emphasis is placed on communication through emotion. Such art often occurs during time of social upheaval, and through the tradition of graphic art there is a powerful and moving record of chaos in Europe from the 15th century on the Protestant Reformation, Peasants’ War, Eight Years’ War, Spanish Occupation of the Netherlands, the rape, pillage and disaster associated with countless periods of chaos and oppression are presented in the documents of the printmaker. Often the work is unimpressive aesthetically, but almost without exception has the capacity to move the viewer to strong emotions with the drama and often horror of the scenes depicted.
The term was also coined by Czech art historian Antonin Matejcek in 1910 as the opposite of impressionism: “An Expressionist wishes, above all, to express himself….(An Expressionist rejects) immediate perception and builds on more complex psychic structures…. Impressions and mental images that pass through mental peoples soul as through a filter which rids them of all substantial accretions to produce their clear essence […and] are assimilated and condense into more general forms, into types, which he transcribes through simple short-hand formulae and symbols.” (Gordon, 1987)
The movement primarily originated in Germany and Austria. There were a number of Expressionist groups in painting, including the Blaue Reiter and Die Brucke. The Der Blaue Reiter group was based in Munich and Die Brucke was based originally in Dresden (although some later moved to Berlin). Die Brucke was active for a longer period than Der Blaue Reiter which was only truly together for a year (1912). The Expressionists had many influences, among them Munch, Vincent van Gogh, and African art. They also came to know the work being done by the Fauves in Paris.
Influenced by the Fauves, Expressionism worked with arbitrary colors as well as jarring compositions. In reaction and opposition to French impressionism which focused on rendering the sheer visual appearance of objects, Expressionist artists sought to capture emotions and subjective interpretations: It was not important to reproduce an aesthetically pleasing impression of the artistic subject matter, the Expressonists focused on capturing vivid emotional reactions through powerful colors and dynamic compositions instead. The leader of Der Blaue Reiter, Kandinsky, would take this a step further. He believed that with simple colors and shapes the spectator could perceive the moods and feelings in the paintings, therefore he made the move to abstraction.
Expressionist imagery exploded into modern art from the subconscious. Its diverse formal means and emotional effects range from anguish to exuberance. As the powerful, personal creations of modern individuals, these images have little in common except their inventive power and their reliance upon a distinctly private vision.
In late 1939, at the beginning of World War II, New York welcomed a great number of leading European artists.
The heritage of their interest in the mythic realm of the unconscious would be continued-and extended-by another group of younger, New World artists-New York School.
American Expressionism and American Figurative Expressionism particularly the Boston figurative expressionism were an integral part of American modernism around the Second World War.
Major figurative Boston expressionists included: Karl Zerbe, Hyman Bloom, Jack Levine, David Aronson, Philip Guston. The Boston figurative expressionists post World War II were increasingly marginalized by the development of abstract expressionism centered in New York City.
Later in the 20th century, after World War II, figurative expressionism influenced worldwide a large number of artists and movements. Thomas B. Hess, wrote:
“the ‘New figurative painting’ which some have been expecting as a reaction against Abstract Expressionism was implicit in it at the start, and is one of its most lineal continuities.”
Read moreShowing 1101–1200 of 1692 results
Le Somnambule
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $349.00Still Life with Rayfish 1923
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $279.00The Idea Of Firs
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $309.00Le Poisson 1933
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $399.00Le Violoniste Bleu
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $319.00The Man Under The Pear Tree
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $299.00Les Amants au Clair de Lune
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $319.00Nature morte aux Poissons
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $299.00The Mask With The Little Flag
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $299.00La femme à la tête d’âne (Cirque Vollard)
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $319.00Nature morte aux poissons 1921
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $279.00The Pathos Of Fertility
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $279.00L’homme au Parapluie
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $319.00Nature morte aux poissons, oeufs et citrons 1924
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $279.00The Proud P’rrrsch
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $279.00L’homme et L’idole de Bois
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $309.00Poissons et Tomates
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $309.00The Rhine At Duisburg
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $349.00La Lice et la Compagne
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $309.00Nature morte aux harengs avec plat ovale 1917
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $319.00The Saint Of The Inner Light
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $299.00Le Loup et la Cigogne
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $309.00Nature morte aux harengs et aux oignons 1917
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $359.00The Virtue Wagon
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $309.00Le mouton derrière la barrière 1940
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $319.00Le Satyre et le Passant
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $309.00The Wild Man
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $329.00Le Loup Devenu Berger
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $309.00Les Moutons
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $309.00Three Houses
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $329.00Couple Sous la Pluie
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $329.00Still Life with a White Pot and a Herring
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $279.00Tomcat’s Turf
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $309.00Aleko and Zemphira by Moonlight
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $349.00Still-life with fish, peppers and carrots 1918
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $289.00Tower In Orange And Green
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $389.00Autour de la Femme au Visage Rouge
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $349.00Nature morte au violon, pain et poisson
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $269.00Traffic On The Boulevard Tunis
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $299.00Autour Du Couple
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $369.00Still Life with Herrings
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $279.00Treasure Above Ground
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $319.00Blue Lovers
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $299.00Fish, Peppers, Onions (Poissons, poivres et oignons) 1919
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $279.00Tropical Gardening
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $459.00Cirque
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $319.00The Table 1923
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $299.00Two Ways
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $349.00Cirque
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $319.00Still Life with Flowers (Nature morte aux fleurs) 1919
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $289.00Überwintern
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $409.00Cirque
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $319.00Nature morte verte
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $309.00Unerfülltes
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $269.00Clown et Écuyère au Cirque Bleu
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $339.00Nature morte au poisson 1922
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $329.00Untitled
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $259.00Composition
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $309.00Rabbit flayed on a Napoleon III table 1918
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $359.00Untitled
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $359.00La Baie Des Anges
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $329.00Le lièvre 1918
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $329.00Untitled. Dancer And Crescent Moon)
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $369.00Deux Têtes à la Fenêtre
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $329.00Flayed Rabbit (Le Lapin écorché) 1921
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $279.00Untitled
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $289.00Le lapin
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $379.00Springtime In the Meadow
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $369.00Variations (Progressive Motif)
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $249.00Les Glaïeuls 1919
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $289.00The Nymph’s Cave
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $349.00Varsalah
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $329.00Glaïeuls, 1919
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $309.00Veil Dance
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $319.00Wedding Feast In the Nymphs’ Grotto
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $369.00Captain Bryaxis’s Dream
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $359.00Glaïeuls 1919
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $269.00Ventriloquist And Crier In The Moor
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $299.00Bouquet de fleurs 1919
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $319.00Daphnis and Chloe- Chloe Is Carried Off By the Methymneans
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $369.00Viaduct
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $389.00Daphnis and Chloe
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $369.00Flowers in a Polka Dot Vase 1915
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $299.00View Into The Fertile Country
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $279.00Gladioli 1919
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $299.00The Orchard
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $359.00View Of A Fortress
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $329.00Bouquet de rose à la statue de plâtre 1918
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $299.00Quai de la Tournelle
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $359.00View Onto A Square
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $339.00Echo
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $369.00Still life with a vase filled with onions 1917
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $279.00Where The Eggs And The Good Roast Come From
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $379.00Bouquet of Flowers on a Balcony 1915
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $289.00Temple and the History of Bacchus
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $359.00Wild Animal At Bay
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $269.00Lilac Jug 1915
By Chaïm SoutineSizes starting at $269.00Springtime
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $359.00Window Display For Lingerie
By Paul KleeSizes starting at $319.00Daphnis and Chloe- Arrival of Dionysophanes
By Marc Chagall (Inspired by)Sizes starting at $319.00