Expressionism

We explain what expressionism is, its characteristics and main works. Also, its authors and manifestations.

What is expressionism?

Expressionism was an artistic movement that emerged in Germany in the second decade of the 20th century. He defended an art based on emotions and human experience against the rationalism of impressionism and realism, and sought to represent the subjective world of the artist in an intense and disturbing way.

The first manifestations of expressionism occurred in painting and poetry. Later they covered a wide spectrum of artistic disciplines such as sculpture, literature, architecture, cinema, theater, dance and photography.

Instead of approaching external reality, The expressionists wanted to reflect psychological and emotional states such as loneliness, anguish or fear, in the most intense way possible. To do this, they used distorted shapes, intense colors and dynamic lines in their compositions.

The Expressionists moved away from the search for objectivity and everyday beauty that the Impressionists had pursued. They focused, instead, on chaos and human experiences, especially the most intense or painful ones.

The emergence of expressionism in Germany is largely attributed to the heritage of Romanticism, a movement that emerged at the end of the 18th century that placed emphasis on subjectivity and passions. The contributions of Romantic authors—such as the musician Richard Wagner (1813-1883) and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)—were decisive in developing a key concept of expressionism: that of “inner impulse” or “inner longing” (innerer drangin German), the internal need or motivation of a person.

Expressionism was one of the first artistic movements classified as avant-garde, although it was more of a spirit, an artistic attitude (with very diverse practices, interests and styles) than an organized movement. Their common axis was their opposition to the dominant impressionism and the positivist philosophy of the 19th century.

Although it originated in Germany, mainly with the groups Die Brücke (1905) and The Blue Reiter (1911), was a trend that spread throughout Europe and later became popular in American countries.

As a current, expressionism lost strength after Second World War (1939-1945) but it left a great mark on authors and artistic trends of the mid-20th century, such as North American abstract expressionism or German neo-expressionism.

See also: Fauvism

Characteristics of expressionism

Expressionism was not a school or an organized group, but rather a broad and diverse trend, which brought together artists with different styles, techniques and interests. His main enemy was academicism (the 19th century French movement that required following the strict rules imposed by art academies).

The expressionists were often isolated from each other, so expressionism was not homogeneous and had a lot of diversity of styles. Some of their common characteristics were:

• He reacted against the principles of impressionism. In the expressionist vision, art represented the emotionality of the artist and not the phenomena of the physical world (which had been the main concern of the impressionists). This intention began in painting and soon migrated to the rest of the arts.
• It distorted reality. The expressionists distorted shapes and used vibrant colors and altered, violent strokes and thick brushstrokes.
• Its themes revolved around the human condition. Expressionism emerged in interwar Germany, immersed in a moral, political and economic crisis that motivated a transformation of artistic languages.
• His works had symbolic content. Expressionist works sought to provoke or generate shock, concern and introspection. They often used metaphors and symbols to establish a deeper connection with the viewer.
• I was looking for freedom Expressionism represented a break with the past and a call for freedom not only in the artistic field, but also in the philosophical and moral sphere. The expressionists aspired to free expression of their art and to live according to their own convictions and principles.
• Emphasized subjectivity. Expressionism was characterized by investigating individual experience and expression to access the deepest thoughts and emotions.
• His songs were emotionally intense. Expressionists tended towards themes with strong emotional content such as loneliness, misery, anxiety, anger, conflict, fear or anguish.

Historical context of expressionism

Expressionism emerged in Germany between 1910 and 1925. It is considered one of the first artistic avant-garde (also called “historical avant-garde”) and its subsequent influence was an international phenomenon.

At the end of the 19th century, reason as a form of knowledge and the positivist thought that supported it began to enter into crisis. The negative consequences of industrialization (such as alienation and the emergence of large cities) generated a climate of discontent and widespread discouragement.

In that context, Art sought inspiration in critical trends with positivist thought, such as Romanticism and German idealism. The influence of these currents was key to the emergence of an art that addressed freedom, individual strength and the deepest feelings of the human being.

The outbreak of the First World War and all the horror it brought confirmed the pessimism of the expressionists, who rejected realism and preferred to deform reality to reflect the anxieties of their historical moment.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Expressionism was branded “degenerate art” by Nazism and banned for “subversive” political content and alleged links to communism. For that reason it disappeared as a trend after World War II.

expressionist painting

Expressionist painting stood out for its distorted and expressive strokes, its intense and artificial colors and its unbalanced compositions, far removed from the realistic and academic order. It developed around two large groups of artists: “El Puente” (Die Brücke) and “The Blue Horseman” (The Blue Reiter).

The group Die Brücke appeared in Germany in 1905. It was a group of artists who sought to break the rules of painting to express human emotions in the most intense way possible. His art was full of strength, impetus and emotion. Its main representatives were Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) and Erich Heckel (1883-1970).

The Blue Reiter It was another very important group of expressionist painting. It was founded in Munich in 1911 by Vasili Kandinsky (1866-1944) and Franz Marc (1880-1916). It differed from the Die Brücke group by having a higher level of abstraction and a more spiritual search.

The artists of The Blue Reiter They sought to go beyond figurative art (representative of real forms) to connect with deep feelings and emotions. Music, nature and spirituality were recurring themes of this group. His compositions were characterized by being free and dynamic.

expressionist literature

The literature of expressionism broke with traditional literary forms. It was characterized by exposing human emotions in a raw and intense way and focused on themes such as loneliness, death, war and madness.

Expressionist authors abandoned the search for objectivity to focus on your personal and intimate world. They used language loaded with symbols, metaphors and exaggerated and even grotesque images.

Both narrative, poetry and drama reflected the anguish and existential emptiness that marked Europe at that time. This is seen in the dark and pathetic tone of the language and in the psychological exploration of the characters, who often express suffering, alienation, pessimism and desolation.

expressionist music

Musical expressionism originated in Vienna. He moved away from classical harmonies and traditional structures to explore dissonance (the combination of notes that create tension rather than harmony), atonality (the absence of the central tone and loss of traditional harmonic structure), and fragmentation (the breakdown of traditional structures of harmony, melody and rhythm).

These aesthetic resources served the composers to express their tragic vision in the midst of the social and political crisis that Europe was going through on the threshold of the First World War.

The central figure of musical expressionism was Arnold Schoenberg, who challenged all Western music norms with the invention of the twelve-tone system a composition technique that eliminated traditional tonality. The twelve-tone system, also known as dodecaphonism, made it possible to explore dissonant and disturbing sounds to transmit emotions in an intense way.

Among Schoenberg's most notable disciples were Anton Webern (1883-1945), who made short, dissonant compositions of great emotional impact, and Alban Berg (1885-1935), who was recognized for his opera “Wozzeck.” Musical expressionism spread throughout Europe.

expressionist cinema

Expressionist cinema moved away from traditional realism and was characterized by nightmarish stage sets that created disturbing and mysterious atmospheres, with contrasting lighting that accentuated shadows and hidden corners. These resources, together with energetic and dramatic performances, They conveyed extreme emotions such as anguish, despair and madness.

The themes of expressionist cinema reflected the concerns of its historical moment: alienation, violence and brutality, mental instability and despair in the face of a society in ruins. Films such as “The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari” (1920), “Nosferatu, the Vampire” (1922) and “Metropolis” (1927) became icons of the movement.

The influence of expressionist cinema extended beyond cinema and inspired artists around the world for its complex psychological exploration, its dreamlike atmosphere (of dreams and nightmares), its distorted aesthetics, its somber color palette and its tormented characters. Expressionist cinema marked a milestone in the history of cinema and its legacy continues.

Representatives of expressionism

expressionist painters

• Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938) He was a German painter and printmaker, co-founder of the group Die Brücke. After suffering a nervous breakdown during the First World War, he retired to paint country landscapes in Switzerland. Nazism destroyed much of his work.
• Erich Heckel (1883-1970). He was a German painter, illustrator and printmaker, co-founder of the group Die Brücke. His woodcuts are considered among the most important works of expressionism.
• Vasili Kandinsky (1866-1944). He was a Russian painter and art theorist, co-founder of the group The Blue Reiter. He explored the expression of emotions and spiritual search through shapes, colors and lines.
• Franz Marc (1880-1916). He was a German painter, co-founder, along with Vasili Kandinsky, of the group Der Blaue Reiter. His artistic interest focused on showing the spiritual world of animals. He died in combat in World War I at the age of 36.
• Egon Schiele (1890-1918). He was an Austrian painter and one of the greatest exponents of expressionism in his country. In his paintings, with a strong psychological charge, he explores death, sensuality and the human body.

Expressionist musicians

• Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951). He was an Austrian composer, founder of the so-called Second Vienna School (origin of atonality and twelve-tone music) and one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.
• Anton Webern (1883-1945) He was an Austrian composer, disciple of Schoenberg and member of the Second Vienna School. His music is characterized by its short and highly structured forms.
• Alban Berg (Austrian, 1885-1935). He was an Austrian composer, member of the Second Vienna School and disciple of Schoenberg. His compositions are characterized by their emotional charge and the combination of atonal elements with others inherited from musical Romanticism.

Expressionist writers

• August Strindberg (1849-1912). He was a Swedish novelist, poet, essayist and playwright, recognized as one of the greatest writers of his time and the creator of a new form of theater.
• Thomas Mann (1875-1955). He was a German essayist and novelist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929 for his novel The Buddenbrooksalthough his most famous work is The magic mountain.
• Franz Kafka (1883-1924). He was a Czech novelist and short story writer. His work, one of the most important in universal literature, expresses the anguish and alienation that overwhelmed Western societies at the beginning of the 20th century.
• Bertoldt Brecht (1898-1956). He was a German playwright and poet, creator of epic theater (or dialectical theater), a form of theater that broke all known conventions of his time.

Expressionist filmmakers

• Robert Wiene (1873-1938). He was a German film director, author of The office of Doctor Caligari, considered the first film of expressionist cinema and one of the main references of the beginnings of horror cinema in the world.
• Friedrich Murnau (1889-1931). He was a German film director, known for revolutionizing cinematographic art with his subjective use of the camera to express the emotions of characters.
• Fritz Lang (1890-1976). He was an Austrian and American film director, recognized throughout the world for his mastery of visual composition, management of suspense and expression of emotions in his works.

• Romanticism
• Surrealism
• Dadaism

References

• Marchán Fiz, S. (1986). From object art to concept art. Akal.
• Ruhrberg, K., Schneckenburger, M., Fricke, C., & Klaus Honnef. (2001). 20th century art. Taschen
• Souriau, Étienne (1998). Akal Dictionary of Aesthetics. Madrid.