 By definition: expressionism is signifying the

use of distortion and exaggeration by the

expressionist to exemplify an event.
 Late 19th and early 20th century
 This was the time right around World War
One.
 Focused on schools of emotive and
interpretive art.
 Expressionism art didn‟t only focus on
painting
 Played a large role in cinema, theatre,
literature and dance
 Most related to Germany in 1910
 Started as German Expressionism
 Was a reaction to Impressionism, can also
be noted as “Post-Impressionism”
 Impressionists tried to recreate an
impression of the objective world.
 Expressionism dealt with artists own
personality, feelings and emotions.
 Expressionists had no desire to capture
what they saw, but rather their
emotional response to it.
 More active, and subjective type of art.
 FIRST signs of expressionism was in the
Fauvism movement – 1905.
 The general characteristics could also be
seen in Van Gogh at first.
 Started to use pure colors. Agitated brush
marks. Distortion of shapes.
 Expressionism developed with three main
groups groups; Die Brucke (The Bridge), Der
Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) and Die Neue
Sachlichkeit (“the New Objectivity). Later
Discussed.
 Emotions and feelings
 Vivid and un-naturalistic colors
 Dynamic and distorted forms
 Exaggeration of form which adds to the
emotional effect
 One of the earliest artists.
 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944
 Norwegian
 Pioneer in the expressionist movement in
modern painting.
 Inspires present day artists
 Father was Christian Munch whose wife
died when Edvard was only five years old.
This had a big impact on his expression of
emotion.
 Strong sense of emotion
 Most pieces: orange-red bright colors.
 Used against black to bring more
contrast from colors.
 Often depict image of death or
suffering.
 Did many woodcuts, lithographs, and
etchings.
 This is important because he‟s bringing
new tools into the art world.
 Brings in a more graphic style.
 Means: The Bridge. Symbolizes the link, or
bridge, they would form with art of the
future.
 Founded in Dresden, Germany in 1905
by a group of young architecture
students who had interest in art.
 First cohesive group of German artists to
concentrate on expressionist styles
 This group combined traditional German
art with African, Post-Impressionist and
Fauvist styles.
 Consisted of paintings,
woodcuts, sculptures,
and even
lithographic prints.
 Attempted to express
emotional feeling
through distortion,
exageration, color,
and line.

A Group of Artists: Otto Mueller, Kirchner, Heckel, Schmidt-Rottluff

 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938)

Background
 born on May 6, 1880 in Aschaffenburg.
 Studied at a technical college until he
saw Albrecht Dürer's original
woodblocks, which made him decide to
become a painter.
 Founder of „Die Bruke‟ and considered
the leader of the group as well
Style
 Flat
 Bold Colors
 Faces
 People
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Street, Dresden
1908
 Marcella (1909)
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
 Street, Berlin (1913)
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Self Portrait As a Solider
(1915)
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
 Emil nolde

 Part of Die Bruke

Still Life with Masks
(1911)
Emil Nolde
Prophet (1912)
Emil Nolde
 Means “The Blue Rider”
 Believed that colors and shapes were a
way of mimicking music and sound
 Focused on creating color combinations
that would purify the soul
 Born in Moscow in 1866
 Fascinated by colors in nature
 Studied music, law and economics
before deciding to become a painter
 Went to art school in Munich, Germany
 Started The Blue Rider movement with
Franz Marc
 Moved back to Russia once World War I
started
 Moved back to Germany after the war
to teach at the Bauhaus
 In 1933 when the Nazis came to power
he moved to France
 He continued to make art until his death
in 1944
 Born 1880
 Cofounded Der Blaue Reiter
 Began using abstract animal forms in his
art
 Died at the age of 36 in World War I
 Founded in Germany
 1920‟s – 1930‟s
 After math of World War One
 Founded by George Grosz and Otto Dix
 Realistic Style combined with a cynical
and socially critical stance.
 German meaning is “a new reality”
 Movement focused on the post-war life.
 Focused some on faces and majorly on
architecture.
 Cityscapes were often created, involving
streets and busy intersections with large
buildings.
 Many say that this created a new mental
relation with the objects.
 Born 1891
 Participated in the first DADA art fair
 German expressionist
 Sketched and painted for the entirety of his
life
 Focused a lot on the war
 Beckmann differed from normal
expressionism: emotional realism.
Christ and the Woman
Taken in Adultery
(1917)
Max Beckman
 The Night,
(1918–1919)
Max Beckman