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Expressionism

Expressionism is an artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse within a person. The artist accomplishes this aim through distortion, exaggeration, primitivism, and fantasy and through the vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of formal elements. Expressionism can be seen as a modernist movement that developed within Germany and Northern Europe prior to World War One before spreading out across the world. Expressionist art coexisted with other early twentieth-century art movements that also worked to challenge the modern world such as Dadaism, Cubism, Futurism, and Surrealism. The roots of the German Expressionist school lay in the works of Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch, and James Ensor, each of whom in the period 1885–1900 evolved a highly personal art. Later, Franz Marc, became a key artist in German Expressionism.

The first key artist in Expressionism is Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). He was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings. Van Gogh is today one of the most popular of the Post-Impressionist painters, although he was not widely appreciated during his lifetime. Largely self-taught, Van Gogh gained his footing as an artist by zealously copying prints and studying nineteenth-century drawing manuals and lesson books.

Vincent van Gogh’s artistic style was inspired by a variety of sources. When he moved to Paris in 1886, he was greatly influenced by the work of the Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists, and he began using a lighter palette of reds, yellows, oranges, greens, and blues, and experimented with the broken brushstrokes of the Impressionists. Van Gogh was also hugely influenced by Japanese prints, which he collected avidly and incorporated into his work. In Paris, van Gogh was also influenced by painters such as Gauguin, Pissarro, Monet, and Bernard and developed a close friendship with Gauguin, who eventually became one of the biggest artistic influences on van Gogh. Van Gogh’s style and technique developed gradually from anatomically accurate works in his early period to more eccentric in his mature years. He was an extremely purposeful person and knew how to use colors and thoroughly thought over his compositions.

The following are some of Van Gogh’s most famous works of art:

“Sunflowers” is one of his most well-known paintings and is characterized by its bright yellows and the way each of the fourteen sunflowers are painted differently. Van Gogh painted “Sunflowers” for the room in the yellow house he was renting in Arles, France.

Vincent van Gogh’s impasto strokes are a defining characteristic of his artistic style. Impasto is a painting term that refers to the use of thickly textured, undiluted paint that appears almost three-dimensional on the canvas. When an artist uses the impasto technique, they usually leave visible brush strokes on the finished painting, Van Gogh used lots of thick impasto brush strokes, which means “risen paint,” and he loaded his thick oil paints onto a palette knife or brush and applied them directly onto the canvas. He mixed colors on the canvas to attain the desired color and used impasto not just to add dimension to his paintings but to add emotion and movement. Van Gogh’s impasto technique is evident in many of his famous paintings, including “The Starry Night,” “Sunflowers,” and “Cypresses“

Vincent van Gogh died on July 29, 1890, in his room at the Auberge Ravoux in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise in northern France. He shot himself in the chest with a revolver in a field near Auvers, and he died two days later, with his brother Theo at his bedside. The official cause of van Gogh’s death was listed as a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and it was assumed that he had committed suicide. However, evidence that emerged recently suggests that Van Gogh may have been shot by a local farmer named Rene Secretan.

The second key artist in Expressionism is Franz Marc. Franz Marc (1880-1916) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a journal whose name later became synonymous with the circle of artists collaborating in it. Marc’s early works were painted in a naturalistic academic style, but after discovering French Impressionist painting in 1903, he adopted a more modern approach, using simplified lines and vivid colors. During a trip to Paris in 1907, he encountered the work of the Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh, whose idiosyncratic use of broad areas of rich color led Marc to experiment with similar techniques. Marc and Wassily Kandinsky split from the Neue Künstlervereinigung in 1911, forming a rival group of artists named Der Blaue Reiter. Together they edited an almanac of the same name, which included contributions from artists such as August Macke, Gabriele Münter, and others.

The following are some of Franz Marc’s most famous works of art:

  • The Large Blue Horses (1911)
  • The Tower of Blue Horses (1913)
  • The Foxes (1913)
  • The Red Deer (1913)
  • The Yellow Cat (1911)
  • The Little Blue Horses (1912)

These paintings showcase Marc’s unique style, which connected to a deeper, spiritual aspect inherent in life and nature, and his expressive styles showcased this.

Franz Marc had a distinct artistic style that was characterized by bright primary colors, an almost cubist portrayal of animals, stark simplicity, and a profound sense of emotion. His brush stroke style was expressive and showcased his love of animals and colors. Marc’s art connected to a deeper, spiritual aspect inherent in life and nature, and his expressive styles showcased this. During his career, he created about 60 pieces in lithography and woodcut, many of which depicted animals in their natural setting and habitat.

Franz Marc died on March 4, 1916, near Verdun, France, during the Battle of Verdun in World War One. He was on an exploratory mission when he was fatally wounded by shrapnel from a shell blast. Marc’s death in battle cut short his artistic career, but it does not define his life or art. After mobilization of the German Army, the government identified notable artists to be withdrawn from combat for their own safety, and Marc was on the list, but he was struck in the head and killed instantly by a shell splinter before orders for reassignment could reach him. Too late for him.

In Summary, Expressionism, was an important art movement of the early 20th Century. Expressionism, a movement that originated in Germany before World War I, had a significant impact on the war. At the outbreak of World War I, in 1914, the bold colors and jagged angles of Expressionism found a new purpose. Many of the Expressionists were initially in favor of the war, believing it would lead to the overthrow of middle-class society and its pervasive materialism and cultural restrictions. However, the war devastated Expressionism, the movement that dominated German art at the time. he war had a profound impact on the European avant-garde, and German Expressionism was part of a broader crisis affecting it.