The document discusses the Expressionist movement in Germany in the early 20th century. It describes two main branches - Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter. Die Brücke formed in 1905 and included artists like Kirchner, Nolde, Schiele, and Kokoschka who depicted daily life with vivid colors and angular forms. Der Blaue Reiter started in 1913 and was led by Kandinsky, focusing more on spiritual ideas with symbols and improvisation. Expressionism was a reaction against Impressionism, seeking to portray inner experiences through distorted forms and aggressive styles.

1. EXPRESSIONISM
Revision

2. Introduction
• The name Expressionism is used to
refer to the German art of the early 20th
century.
• This is a European phenomenon that
had two branches:
– The France based group developed the
Fauvism
– The German branch paved the way for Der
Blaue Reiter.

3. Phylosophy
• The name tends to reflect their opposition to
the Impressionism.
• The Expressionism is a movement from the
inside to the outside.
• Its attitude can be even aggressive.
• The movement has something in common
with the Impressionism:
– both movements are realistic and
– both ask for the full compromise of the artists in
the matter of the reality.
• The expressionist are involved in their

4. History
• The first German Expressionism was
born in 1905 with the movement known
as Die Brüke that is related to the
national figurative tradition.
• The artists understood the world as a
deep existential condition of the human
being:
– the desire of having the reality
– and the anguish of being possessed by the

5. Die Brücke
• Die Brücke is a solid artists’ community with a
written programme.
• Members of the group are:
– Kirchner,
– Nolde,
– Schiele,
– Kokoschka.
• The German situation of the time was
obscure, with different artistic influences.
• Die Brücke proposed the union of the
revolutionary element to fight against the

6. Kirchner
Nolde
Ensor
Schiel KokoschkaMunch

7. Die Brücke
• Characteristics:
– it is a realism that creates reality;
– they begin from nothing, just from the artist
ideas;
– the matter influences on the artist;
– the subjects reflect daily life (streets,
people in the cafes);
– the works are a bit rude

8. Die Brücke
• In their opinion technique is not something
that can be invented, it is just work.
• It is important the dominance of graphics,
especially xylography, in which the carving
can be violent and the result is sometimes
irregular.
• Technique:
– the painting is dense, full of colour, with stains
and lack of hues;
– it is more important the process than the result.

9. Die Brücke
• The artist works directly on the image
and chooses the colours depending on
their mood.
• Deformations are common and they
are sometimes aggressive.
• They find their inspiration in the work of
primitive cultures.
• They do not have a concept of beauty,
for them it changes to be ugliness,
deformity: it is the poetry of the awful

10. Die Brücke
• Expressionist artists renounce to be
bourgeois and criticise this social group.
• In their opinion, existence is self-creation and
they oppose to the industrial work that
creates a dehumanized society.
• They are obsessed with the subject of sex
because the relation of men and women is
the basis of the society
• They consider that society
– deforms,
– is perverse,

11. Kirchner
• He depicted the
atmosphere of cities
with forms full of
angles and with
vivid brush-strokes
• He portrayed
contradictions:
– Lack of interest in
beauty
– Problems of life
– Sexual influence
– Desire

12. Nolde
• Primitive forms with
simbolic value
• He depicted a
religious experience
• Technical
characteristics:
– Strong brush-stroke
– Thick matter
– Vivid contrast of
colours

13. Ensor
• Strange images full
of people
• The faces of people
look to be masks.
• He critisized all
social classes
• Technically:
– Lots of matter
– He wanted to imitate
the texture of oil
painting.

14. Schiele
• Sensuality became
a sexual obsession
• Strong line
symbolising the
physical and moral
deterioration of
people.
• Colour is
independent, mainly
in watercolours.
• Space is a hole and
symbolizes the

15. Kokoschka
• Oso expressive
works
• He received bad
critics
• He painted a lot of
portraits
• He received the
influence of other
artists of his time

16. Munch
• Characters between
waves
• Areas of strong
contrast
• He wanted to depict
the problems of his
times
• Characters appear
in turmoil.
• They look to be

17. Der Blaue Reiter
• Die Brücke was dissolved in 1913 when the
group Der Blaue Reiter started its investigation
with a less compromised attitude.
• Members of this group are:
– Beckmann,
– Dix,
– Grosz,
– Marc,
– Macke,
– Kandinsky,
– Klee.
• They do not have a defined programme. And
their orientation is more spiritual.

18. Beckmann Dix
Grosz

19. Marc
Macke Kandinsk
y
Klee

20. Der Blaue Reiter
• Their objective is to coordinate
international exhibitions to foster their
polemic writings
• The ideas of the artists of this group are
not revolutionary but it is anti-classicist.
• They are influenced by Matisse, oriental
art and even music.
• Symbols are limited to common objects
while the aesthetic communication is
dominant.

21. Der Blaue Reiter
• Characteristics of the movement are:
– importance of the colour and its
significance;
– primitivism;
– improvisation;
– inclusion of different lines and shapes:
• curves,
• zigzags,
• stain;
– art is understood as communication.

22. Beckmann
• In many of his works
handicapped bodies
appear.
• Extravagant forms
• He critised
governments heavily
• Images in
movement, doing
exercise
• He painted portraits

23. Dix
• He wanted to depict
the disasters
consequence of
WWI
• Trend to objectivism
• In his work he made
strong social critics

24. Grosz
• Influences of the
war
• He depicted
cartoons and other
independennnnnnt
projects
• Images are
simplified, with
strong critic
• He is a

25. Marc
• The main characters
of his works are
animals
• He was quite mistic
• He used colours
arbitrarily
• Each colour had
its symbolic
value

26. Macke
• He integrated in the
movement after
knowing Kandinsky
• He received influences
of other avant gard
• The influence of
Delaunay’s colour can
be see in
hitDelaunayren
kolorearen eragina
ikusten da bere lanetan,
batez ere

27. Kandinsky
• He experimented with
several avant-gardes
• Russian influences
are aboundat
• He used vivid colours
• He said that colours
are linked to music
• He made the first
abstract painting

28. Klee
• He liked primitive art
• Although introduced
in the expressionist
group his work is
quite special
• He was autodidactn
• Colour is the most
important element of
his work.