EXPRESSIONISM

Revision
 Introduction

• The name Expressionism is used to

refer to the German art of the early 20th
century.
• This is a European phenomenon that
had two branches:
– The France based group developed the
Fauvism
– The German branch paved the way for Der
Blaue Reiter.
 Phylosophy
• The name tends to reflect their opposition to
the Impressionism.
• The Expressionism is a movement from the
inside to the outside.
• Its attitude can be even aggressive.
• The movement has something in common
with the Impressionism:
– both movements are realistic and
– both ask for the full compromise of the artists in
the matter of the reality.
• The expressionist are involved in their
 History
• The first German Expressionism was
born in 1905 with the movement known
as Die Brüke that is related to the
national figurative tradition.
• The artists understood the world as a
deep existential condition of the human
being:
– the desire of having the reality
– and the anguish of being possessed by the
 Die Brücke
• Die Brücke is a solid artists’ community with a
written programme.
• Members of the group are:
– Kirchner,
– Nolde,
– Schiele,
– Kokoschka.
• The German situation of the time was
obscure, with different artistic influences.
• Die Brücke proposed the union of the
revolutionary element to fight against the
 Nolde
Kirchner Ensor

Munch Kokoschka
Schiel
 Die Brücke
• Characteristics:
– it is a realism that creates reality;
– they begin from nothing, just from the artist
ideas;
– the matter influences on the artist;
– the subjects reflect daily life (streets,
people in the cafes);
– the works are a bit rude
 Die Brücke
• In their opinion technique is not something
that can be invented, it is just work.
• It is important the dominance of graphics,
especially xylography, in which the carving
can be violent and the result is sometimes
irregular.
• Technique:
– the painting is dense, full of colour, with stains
and lack of hues;
– it is more important the process than the result.
 Die Brücke
• The artist works directly on the image
and chooses the colours depending on
their mood.
• Deformations are common and they
are sometimes aggressive.
• They find their inspiration in the work of
primitive cultures.
• They do not have a concept of beauty,
for them it changes to be ugliness,
deformity: it is the poetry of the awful
 Die Brücke
• Expressionist artists renounce to be
bourgeois and criticise this social group.
• In their opinion, existence is self-creation and
they oppose to the industrial work that
creates a dehumanized society.
• They are obsessed with the subject of sex
because the relation of men and women is
the basis of the society
• They consider that society
– deforms,
– is perverse,
 Kirchner
• He depicted the
atmosphere of cities
with forms full of
angles and with
vivid brush-strokes
• He portrayed
contradictions:
– Lack of interest in
beauty
– Problems of life
– Sexual influence
– Desire
 Nolde
• Primitive forms with
simbolic value
• He depicted a
religious experience
• Technical
characteristics:
– Strong brush-stroke
– Thick matter
– Vivid contrast of
colours
 Ensor
• Strange images full
of people
• The faces of people
look to be masks.
• He critisized all
social classes
• Technically:
– Lots of matter
– He wanted to imitate
the texture of oil
painting.
 Schiele
• Sensuality became
a sexual obsession
• Strong line
symbolising the
physical and moral
deterioration of
people.
• Colour is
independent, mainly
in watercolours.
• Space is a hole and
symbolizes the
 Kokoschka
• Oso expressive
works
• He received bad
critics
• He painted a lot of
portraits
• He received the
influence of other
artists of his time
 Munch
• Characters between
waves
• Areas of strong
contrast
• He wanted to depict
the problems of his
times
• Characters appear
in turmoil.
• They look to be
 Der Blaue Reiter
• Die Brücke was dissolved in 1913 when the
group Der Blaue Reiter started its investigation
with a less compromised attitude.
• Members of this group are:
– Beckmann,
– Dix,
– Grosz,
– Marc,
– Macke,
– Kandinsky,
– Klee.
• They do not have a defined programme. And
their orientation is more spiritual.
Beckmann Dix
Grosz
 Macke Kandinsk
y
Marc

Klee
 Der Blaue Reiter
• Their objective is to coordinate
international exhibitions to foster their
polemic writings
• The ideas of the artists of this group are
not revolutionary but it is anti-classicist.
• They are influenced by Matisse, oriental
art and even music.
• Symbols are limited to common objects
while the aesthetic communication is
dominant.
 Der Blaue Reiter
• Characteristics of the movement are:
– importance of the colour and its
significance;
– primitivism;
– improvisation;
– inclusion of different lines and shapes:
• curves,
• zigzags,
• stain;
– art is understood as communication.
 Beckmann
• In many of his works
handicapped bodies
appear.
• Extravagant forms
• He critised
governments heavily
• Images in
movement, doing
exercise
• He painted portraits
 Dix
• He wanted to depict
the disasters
consequence of
WWI
• Trend to objectivism
• In his work he made
strong social critics
 Grosz
• Influences of the
war
• He depicted
cartoons and other
independennnnnnt
projects
• Images are
simplified, with
strong critic
• He is a
 Marc
• The main characters
of his works are
animals
• He was quite mistic
• He used colours
arbitrarily
• Each colour had
its symbolic
value
 Macke
• He integrated in the
movement after
knowing Kandinsky
• He received influences
of other avant gard
• The influence of
Delaunay’s colour can
be see in
hitDelaunayren
kolorearen eragina
ikusten da bere lanetan,
batez ere
 Kandinsky
• He experimented with
several avant-gardes
• Russian influences
are aboundat
• He used vivid colours
• He said that colours
are linked to music
• He made the first
abstract painting
 Klee
• He liked primitive art
• Although introduced
in the expressionist
group his work is
quite special
• He was autodidactn
• Colour is the most
important element of
his work.