Expressionism Art Style
Expressionist Movement, Twentieth Century European Fine Arts.
Visual Arts Guide

Expressionist Art

In fine art, the term 'Expressionism' usually denotes the early 20th century German Expressionist movement, which included groups such as Der Blaue Reiter, Die Brucke, Die Neue Sachlichkeit and the Bauhaus School (1919-33). Famous artists included Wassily Kandinsky (1844-1944), Paul Klee (1879-1940), Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938), Otto Dix (1891-1969), Alexei von Jawlensky (1864-1941), Egon Schiele (1890-1918), Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) and Max Beckmann (1884-1950). When used without a capital letter, expressionism denotes a general style of painting, whose first major exponent is considered to be Vincent Van Gogh.

What is Expressionist Art?

Expressionist paintings in general, and German Expressionist pictures in particular, tend to be compelling, garish works often characterized by thick freely applied brushstrokes, and occasional symbolism. The expressionist artist strives to convey his personal feelings about the object painted, rather than merely record his observation of it. Thus, in order to achieve maximum impact on the viewer, representational accuracy is sacrificed (distorted) in favour of (eg) strong outlines and bold colours. Compositions tend to be simpler and more direct. The message is all-important.

Cat (1954) by Alberto Giacometti.

Famous Expressionist Artists

Modern expressionism begins with Van Gogh and then widens to incorporate, among many others, the Worpswede Group (1889-1905), Edvard Munch (1863-1944), Fauvism (1898-1908), the early 20th century German Expressionists, Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920), most of Picasso (1881-1973), Henry Moore (1898-1986), Sutherland (1903-1980), Francis Bacon (1909-1992), Alberto Giacometti (1877-1966), Jean Dubuffet (1901-85), and Georg Baselitz (b.1938).

Abstract Expressionism

As New York superceded Paris as the centre of innovation in modern art, the style reemerged as Abstract Expressionism, in early 1940s America, with the so-called action painters led by Jackson Pollock (1912-56) and Willem De Kooning (1904-97), and the colour-field painters, such as Mark Rothko (1903-70), Barnett Newman (1905-70) and Clyfford Still (1904-80). More abstract than expressionistic, this new school had little tangible connection with the more representational, if not completely realistic, style of Munch, the earlier Blaue Reiter, Brucke, and Neue Sachlichkeit movements, or Beckmann.

Neo-Expressionism

The latest revival of expressionist art occurred during the 1980s in America, Britain, Germany, Italy and France, under banner of Neo-Expressionism.

Portrait of Frau Reuther (c.1921)
by Oskar Kokoschka.

Viewed primarily as a reaction to the Minimalism and Conceptual art of the 1970s, its leading exponents in America included Philip Guston and Julian Schnabel, and in Britain (New Spirit Painting) Paula Rego and Christopher Le Brun. In Germany, the Neo-Expressionist school became known as Neue Wilden (new Fauves). In Italy, Neo-Expressionist painting appeared under the banner of Transavanguardia (beyond the avant-garde) and featured artists such as Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucchi, Nicolo de Maria and Mimmo Paladino. In France Neo-Expressionism coalesced around a group called Figuration Libre, formed in 1981 by Remi Blanchard, Francois Boisrond, Robert Combas, and Herve de Rosa.

• For other art movements and periods, see: History of Art.
• For styles of painting and sculpture in Ireland, see: Irish Art

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