PrimeLuck ArtsExpressionism
Expressionism shows inner feeling rather than outward appearance. Artists used distortion and strong colour to show anxiety, passion and unease about the modern world.
- Period
- Early twentieth-century modernism
- Approximate dates
- c. 1905 to the 1930s
- Place of origin
- Germany and Northern Europe
- Key regions
- Germany, Austria, Norway, Scandinavia
- Art forms
- Painting, printmaking, woodcut, film, theatre
- Major artists
- Edvard Munch, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Franz Marc, Wassily Kandinsky, Kathe Kollwitz, Egon Schiele
Visual introduction
The Scream
Edvard Munch · 1893 · Tempera and crayon on cardboard · National Museum, Oslo
Swirling lines and a distorted figure show anxiety, one of the best known images of inner feeling.
Street, Berlin
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · 1913 · Oil on canvas · Museum of Modern Art, New York
Sharp, jagged figures and acid colour convey the tension of the modern city.
The Large Blue Horses
Franz Marc · 1911 · Oil on canvas · Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Colour carries symbolic and spiritual meaning, a key idea of Der Blaue Reiter.
Historical context
Expressionism grew in rapidly changing, crowded cities and in the shadow of the First World War. Groups such as Die Brucke in Dresden (1905) and Der Blaue Reiter in Munich (1911) shared ideas.
Edvard Munch was an important forerunner. Artists were interested in psychology, in folk art and non-European art, and in woodcut printing. In the 1930s, the Nazi government labelled many Expressionist works degenerate and removed them from museums.
Visual characteristics
Colour: intense, symbolic and often jarring.
Form: distorted figures and space, sharp angles and rough, emotional lines.
Mood: anxiety, spiritual longing, protest and city tension. Woodcut and print techniques gave a raw, hard-edged look.
Related movements
Sources and further reading
Further reading: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Tate, Art Terms. Smarthistory.