Expressionism

One of the most iconic art images of the 20th century is Edvard Munch’s “The Scream;” a painting that has been reproduced into posters, coffee mugs and even stuffed dolls. While almost everyone knows what “The Scream” looks like, few know that it is a key piece of Expressionism art.

While most people are familiar with the soft daubed landscapes of Monet and the Impressionist movement, few people know of the movement that came later, Expressionism. Expressionism art is not meant to clearly show what an object really looks like, but to paint the object in such a way that it showed the artist’s feelings.

Expressionism began in Germany around 1905, and continued until the 1940’s. Expressionism is known for its graphic representation of emotion, the point of expressionism is for the artist to express what he is feeling, from rage to passion.

Key figures in Expressionism include Wassily Kandisky, Franz Marc, Ernst Kirchner, Paul Klee, and of course, Edvard Munch. Ernst Kirchner described Expressionism in the following way: “He who renders his inner convictions as he knows he must, and does so with spontaneity and sincerity, is one of us.” In recent years, Expressionism has enjoyed a rebound in popularity, with poster reprints of Kandisky, Klee, and Munch becoming top sellers after the years of relative obscurity that followed the end of the Expressionist era.