Expressionism in Art

The term expressionism did not come into use until 1911. As a movement, especially developed in Germany and the Netherlands, expressionism was an important factor in the painting, drama, poetry, and cinema. In visual arts and other media the term is applied to the emotional manner, feeling and imagination expression. Being a reaction against realism and naturalism expressionism drawings depicts a world violently distorted by emotions, but not the external reality. The roots of the movement can be traced back to the works of Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch, and James Ensor, the Swedish playwright August Strindberg (in his “Dream Play”, 1902), and the German playwright Frank Wedekind.

The movement is closely related with the activity of such groups as the Brücke (1905), Blaue Reiter (1911), and New Objectivity (1920s). However, the term was also applied toward the artists working independently of the groups and schools. The technique and ideas of expressionists were adopted by other movements developed in the 20th century, abstract expressionism, in particular. As it was mentioned above the style with it's objectives influenced not visual arts only, but also literature, drama, and other media. With the expressionist drama the new round of staging, scene design, and directing is associated. The emotional impact on the audience was produced by the characters and scenes of the German films “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1919), “The Last Laugh” (1924). The names of such prominent directors and designers should also be mentioned: Max Reinhardt and Erwin Piscator (Germany) and Vsevolod Meyerhold (Russian), Edward Henry Gordon Craig (Britain) and Robert Edmond Jones (the US).

Influenced by the Fauves, the artists created their expressionism drawings using arbitrary colors, and jarring compositions. It is vital for an expressionist artists to put an emphasis on subjective interpretations, rather than on mere visual appearance of objects depiction, and as a result aesthetic impression cede to the artistic subject matter. Now the works of the artists associated with this movement are represented on the expressionism museum. With the advent of the Internet the works of various artistic movements representatives can be viewed online also with the help of online expressionism galleries and exhibits.

Klinkov.com web site is one of the places where one can view and purchase expressionism drawings directly from the artist. There is a selection of Valeriy Klinkov paintings which represent various styles, including expressionism, abstraction, surrealism, etc. V.Klinkov is a contemporary artist whose works took part in various exhibitions in Europe and if you are looking for a picture that could add more creativity to your home or whatever interior design, visit klinkov.com collection!