Expressionism encompasses the art movement that existed from 1905 to 1925. Expressionism is characterized by distortion and exaggeration in order to create an emotional effect. Expressionism first appeared in the art literature of the 20th century, and with regards to art, the expressionist style utilizes intense color, disjointed spaces, and agitated brushstrokes. It is interesting to note that the expressionist movement not only included fine arts, but also dance, movies, literature, and theater. Expressionist artists do not attempt to convey realities, rather they attempt to portray subjective emotions and responses to objects and environment.
Expressionism is different from impressionism in that it does not try to reproduce the impression of the surrounding world; instead, expressionism allows the artist to impose personal representations of the world in connection to personal emotions. Expressionism is not so much concerned with representing accurate forms and harmony, but rather it strives to achieve the highest expression intensity through the use of exaggeration, distortion, primitivism, and fantasy - often incorporating elements of violence and vividness. Expressionism arose first in Germany around 1910 and some of the major artists influencing the movement included Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh and the fauvism period. Some of the most famous artists of the Expressionism movement include Otto Dix, Max Beckmann, Alfred Kubin, Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Edvard Munch, and Marc Chagall.
Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch was an Expressionist artist from Norway born in Loten in 1863. Munch began working on paintings by the age of 17 and a state grant allowed him to study in Paris in 1863. Edvard Munch's paintings express elements of anguish, brooding, and pain based on personal obsessions and grief. This was an essential contribution to the development of the Expressionist movement. Edvard Munch's paintings began as broad expressions, and his later works became more and more personalized with images relating mostly to illness and death.
Munch held an exhibition in 1892 that shocked the public so much that the show was closed. Munch's most famous painting "The Scream", and "The Sick Child" demonstrate the trauma that Munch underwent when he witnessed the death of his mother and sister to tuberculosis. Many of the Munch's paintings convey limp figures, hidden faces, threatening shapes looming, brooding houses, sexual anxieties, and innocent sufferers. Overall the moods of his works are meloncholic and intense.
Edvard Munch was hospitalized when his anxiety became too serious and he returned to Norway in 1909. Edvard Munch died in Oslo in 1944 and left significant works that were simple, vigorous and direct in style, which worked as important forces for later modern graphic art.
