Expressionism: The Emotional Core of 20th-Century Modern Art, Read here

Introduction to Expressionism: An Emotional Revolution in Art

In the early 20^th century one of the most important movements of modern art was formed, known as “Expressionism”. This term was used this art’s main focus of interest was the human beings’ emotions. Every type of art whether painting, sculpture, or even architectural paintings should have intense feelings and emotions in them. During this art movement feelings became the main focus of interest rather than the technical or the factual side. The development of modern art dates back to be 1880s in France which was by marvelous artists like Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Lautrec. These artists intentionally misshape nature to bring out the emotions and Symbolic meaning.

Expressionism a reaction against cultural separatism, provincialism, religious and spiritual yearning

As the artist Vincent van Gogh states ‘It’s an artist’s duty to paint the fundamental emotions joy, sorrow, anger and fear’ This quote became the focus of interest art movement.  The things that were responsible for the evolution of this art movement were cultural separatism, provincialism, and religious and spiritual yearning, in addition to the political and economic backwardness of Germany which caused a high rate of unemployment caused agitation for the public. Early German art had romantic qualities within but later on during the 20th century, the artwork became more aggressive and expressive.

The Origins of Expressionism: Influences from Van Gogh and Gauguin

Expressionism in art is an art in which human emotions have reached their extreme peak. This movement was developed alongside the movements like Cubism and Fauvism which were thriving in France at that time. The early expressionists like Norwegian Edward Munch, Ferdinand Holder, and Franz Marc. Ferdinand Holder was the one who created imagery of strange psychology and spiritual force in his artwork. The inspiration usually came from the artist who rejected the everyday reality. Artists like Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin inspired this art movement, Gauguin gave the expressionists a wonderful feeling of lyrical primitivism and meanwhile Van Gogh’s insanity and heavy passionate quality inspired their artwork. They were also inspired by the African Negro sculptures.

Key Characteristics of Expressionism

One of the key characteristics of this art movement art that the expressionist applied arbitrary colors in their artwork. The use of strong and intense colors, distorted forms, and exaggerated lines represent the emotions, inner turmoil, and subjective perspective of the artist. People were shown weakly and sickly to show their anguish and they were gloomy. They often used dark colors to show intense emotions. Expressionist art is similar to the Symbolist, the scenes are eerie or nightmarish but you can tell them apart: Expressionist perspective, similar to people and objects, is distorted.

Leading Artists of the Expressionist Movement

Some of the Artists of this art are Edvard Munch, Franz Marc, Paul Klee, and Wassily Kandinsky. Edvard Munch was a Norwegian painter. Hi work The Scream has become one of Western art’s most famous paintings of modern art. Franz Marc was a German painter and printmaker, one of the most important figures of German Expressionism, his famous artwork is Blue Horses. Paul Klee was a German artist. His artistic style was influenced by art movements which were expressionism, cubism, and surrealism, his famous artwork is Castle and the Sun. Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is known as one of the pioneers of abstraction in Western art. His famous artwork is Color Study. Squares with Concentric Circles.

Conclusion

• During this art movement artists’ emotions become the key factor.
• This art movement was heavily influenced by the work of Gauguin and Van Gogh and African sculptures.
• They distorted figures to bring out emotions to their peak and also used unusual colors.
•  It is one of the most modern art movements in the history of art.

Laiba Imran