Expressionism – An Era without Rules

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Although Expressionism counts as one of the shortest eras, covering only 20 years, it changed a lot in art. Unlike traditional art forms like academic art, which came with strict rules, Expressionism was about breaking those and expressing your own feelings and experiences in your work as an artist.

More about the history of Expressionism, how it came to be and important representatives in this article.

What is Expressionism?

Expressionism is an art movement of modern art which developed in Germany as a countermovement to naturalism and former art traditions in the early 19^th century. This era lasted from 1905 until 1925, and it can be separated into Early Expressionism and Expressionism. Later on, Expressionism spread internationally and inspired many artists, many of them being from the USA.

Post-Impressionist artists like Vincent van Gogh and Edvard Munch count as the most important pioneers which greatly influenced expressionism and paved the way for expressionist artists. Some of the most renowned representatives of this era are Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wassily Kandinsky and Käthe Kollwitz.

Oskar Kokoschka: “The Bride of the Wind” (1913-14)

Fauvism

Roughly at the same time as expressionism, a similar movement called Fauvism was brought into life in France. Unfortunately, Fauvism didn’t get a lot of recognition outside of its country of origin and was quite short lived. Additionally, it was much more placative and dreamy and artists didn’t concern themselves with societal topics and conflicts, which was a fundamental part of Expressionism.

Historical background

The beginning of Expressionism was characterized by high industrialization, political tension and international conflicts. More and more people were pulled into the cities, amongst them many artists and lyricists, which led to overcrowding and increasing anonymity. Thereby creating a big fear of the loss of morality and identity in the population.

The First World War

The First World War was approaching. Most German people were looking forward to it and saw it as something positive, a cleansing power. Moreover, they hoped this war would allow a fresh start and bring the divided community back together. Most of the expressionist artists shared this ideology and many of them gladly joined the military, among them being Otto Dix and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.

Postwar period

Even though they tried to see the post war period as a time of change rather than grief, expressionist artists processed exactly that. In their art they dealt with the war and their firsthand experiences.

Following were the Golden Twenties (Ger.: “Die Goldenen Zwanziger”), where more bright and hopeful artworks were created for a short period of time.

Käthe Kollwitz: “The Volunteers” (1920-22)

Degenerate Art

When Hitler rose to power in 1933, any art that didn’t comply with the national socialist ideal was forbidden and defamed as Degenerate Art (Ger.: “Entartete Kunst”). This included not only Jewish or communist art, but also expressionistic art: Artworks were confiscated and burned or sold off to different countries. Artists were systematically persecuted, exiled or even murdered.

For those reasons, many pieces of art from this period are missing to this day, which is a big loss for society and museums. Among art works from Oskar Kokoschka and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, this even includes some paintings from Picasso’s Blue Period.

Art style of Expressionism

There isn’t a singular distinct art style in Expressionism, rather, it’s about conveying a spiritual attitude. Expressionists rejected the established conservative rules of art, freely expressed social criticism in their work and renounced old painting traditions.

Art wasn’t solely created for aesthetic reasons anymore but should be able to depict and evoke feelings. Their view was that art shouldn’t be a thing you have to plan, but rather it should be spontaneously created from a feeling which it should be able to authentically depict.

Characteristics of expressionistic art

Expressionistic art purposely distances itself from reality and plays with it using forced simultaneity, warped perspectives and an almost insubstantial abstraction and reduction of form and color.

For the first time, new techniques were tried out, colors and shapes were used freely, and personal perceptions were captured through expressive line guidance.

Considering the historical and societal circumstances, expressionistic art deals with topics like the end of the world, war, fear, death, illness and cities.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: “Potsdamer Platz” (1914)

Expressionist Artist groups

The Bridge

One of the most significant artist groups that was formed during Expressionism was “The Bridge” (Ger.: “Die Brücke”) in 1905. It was founded in Dresden, Germany by a group of artists, under them Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Later, they moved to Berlin.

Their unique style is distinguished by rich in contrast, intense colors and the distortion of reality, purposely waiving the use of details. Common motives in the work created by this group include city life, circuses and moving people.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner: “The Painters of the Bridge” (1925)

The Blue Rider

In 1912 the artist group “The Blue Rider” (Ger.: “Der Blaue Reiter) emerged out of the New Artists’ Association Munich (Ger.: “Neue Künstlervereinigung München), which well-known expressionist artists like Kandinsky and Franz Marc were part of.

In their work, they took great pride in using spiritual and abstract elements and believed in the reciprocal influence of color and feeling. That way, they had a new perspective on art and dealt with human existence in the context of their time in depth.