Expressionism

Expressionism

                                              EDVARD MUNCH (1863-1944)

                                    'The Scream', 1893 (oil, tempera and pastel on board)

Expressionism is something that depicts the world as it feels rather than how it looks. The expressionists wanted to show the emotions of objects, people and event that arouse from within the person. Expressionism began in 1905. Expressionism laid in the work of Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch, Gustav klimt, James Ensor. They were all against superficial naturalism and wanted to create art with a spiritual vigor. artists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl Schimdt - Rottluff and Fritz Bleyl formed the group Die Brucke (The Bridge). Expressionist artists use swirling, swaying and exaggerated brushstrokes. The paintings are painted loosely to conveyed the emotional state of artists. Expressionists saw primitive side of humans. They thought that this is the true state of humans. the image above depicts Munch's personal experience. munch used a lot of elements from art nouveau, but very limited. He has let go and made the foreground distorted by the subjective flow of nature. the painting could be the expression of agony.  

Benny Smet, 2018, After the fire... (watercolor, pastel)

 In Smet's painting he shows exaggerated brushstrokes in his painting. Not so much of swirling and swaying lines. He has changed it to suit his own style but still using elements of expressionism. The use of exaggerated colors. The painting is not painted in a realist style.

Bibliography

Barron, S. et al., 1997. German Expressionism : art and society.

Weinstein, J., 1990. Art and the November Revolution in Germany.

Werenskiold, M. & Walford, R., 1984. The concept of expressionism: origin and metamorphoses.

Smet, B., 2018. saatchiart. [Online]
Available at: https://www.saatchiart.com/account/profile/1013231
[Accessed 20 April 2018].