1. EXPRESSIONISM
German and Northern European Art
in Context.
Die Brucke (The Bridge).

2. The European Context -Expressionism
• In the north of Europe, the Fauves' celebration of colour was
pushed to new emotional and psychological depths.
Expressionism, as it was generally known, developed almost
simultaneously in different countries from about 1905.
• Characterized by heightened, symbolic colours and
exaggerated imagery, it was German Expressionism in
particular that tended to dwell on the darker, sinister aspects of
the human psyche.
• Movement that emphasizes the expression of inner experience
rather than solely realistic portrayal, seeking to depict not
objective reality but the subjective emotions and responses that
objects and events arouse in the artist.
• In a broader sense Expressionism is one of the main currents
of art in the later 19th and the 20th centuries, and its qualities
of highly subjective, personal, spontaneous self-expression are
typical of a wide range of modern artists and art movements.

3. The Historical Context –Expressionism
Expressionism can also be seen as a permanent
tendency in Germanic and Nordic art from at
least the European Middle Ages, particularly in
times of social change or spiritual crisis, and in
this sense it forms the converse of the
rationalist and classicizing tendencies of Italy
and later of France.

4. Matthias Grünewald Isenheim Altarpiece
Matthias Grünewald The Meeting of St
Anthony Abbot and St Paul in the Wilderness.
1512-16
A panel from the Isenheim Altarpiece

5. Matthias Grünewald, (1475-1528).
• Highly regarded figure from the
German Renaissance. Known for the
visionary character of his work, with its expressive
colour and line.
• He rejected the classicism of the Renaissance
ushered in for the expressiveness he became known
for.

6. This type of scene is one that
tended to preoccupy Grünewald.
We can see in this work the
expressive and brutal reality that
appealed to the Die Brucke
artists. The tormented
individual, dealing with the harsh
reality that his world throws at
him.
The Temptation of St Anthony from
the Isenheim Alterpiece.

7. Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
German painter, printmaker,
draughtsman and art theorist,
generally regarded as the greatest
German Renaissance artist.
Vast body of work includes
altarpieces and religious works,
numerous portraits and self-portraits,
and copper engravings.
Raised woodcut to a level of fine art.
His woodcuts, such as the
Apocalypse series, retain a more Self-Portrait at 28 (Self-
Gothic flavour than the rest of his Portrait in Furcoat) Oil on
work. panel, 67 x 49 cm

8. Innovation of line that broadens and thins
While an important painter, in
his own day Dürer was
renowned foremost for his
graphic works. Artists across
Europe admired and copied
Dürer's innovative and
powerful prints, ranging from
religious and mythological Above left: Rhinocerous. 1515. woodcut.
scenes, to maps and exotic
Above: The four horsemen of the apocalypse.
animals.
1497-98. Woodcut.

9. Gothic Art
Expressionist artists,
especially Die Brucke
artists, were influenced
by Gothic architecture.
They were interested in
the elongated, drawn-
out features of this time.

10. Edvard Munch (1863-1944) Norweigan
• Norwegian painter and printmaker
whose intense, evocative treatment
of psychological and emotional
themes was a major influence on
the development of German
Expressionism.
• Was his country's greatest artist.
His work often included the
symbolic portrayal of such themes
as misery, sickness, and death.

11. Edvard Munch, Puberty 1895
• Based around a strong horizontal and a vertical.
• The shadow creates a scene that heightens the frail, unsafe
and insecure nature of the naked girl.
• Lewd air of suggestiveness erased by the ominous shadow
and sense of tender frailness.
• Dark oversized shadow is thought to be a metaphor
expressive of the remembered past and the death Munch
experienced in his own family.
• It also suggests the menace of the future that lies beyond
the youthful years.
• We can perceive in her wide open eyes and the crossing of
her arms over her body an awakening of sexuality and a
sense of being at the mercy of the
unknown…fear/sexuality.

12. Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893;
Casein/waxed crayon and tempera on paper (cardboard), 91 x 73.5 cm

13. Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893
• His most famous work, a study of existential anguish.
• A key idea to sum up this work is that we see the fear and
loneliness of a man in a natural setting which, far from
offering any kind of consolation, picks up the scream and
echoes it into the bay beyond.
• Skeleton like head suggests death.
• Wavy lines, like Van Gogh, suggest emotional instability.
• This is also evident in the surroundings which suggests a
fear of being engulfed in further pain and hostility.

14. Die Brücke

15. Die Brücke
• From Dresden around 1905, the group was formed
by four architecture students (Kirchner, Heckel,
Bleyl, Schmidt-Rottluff).
• Wanted their art to serve as a bride to the art of the
future, especially in regards to Nietzsche’s
philosophy.
• Interested in Japanese prints because of the
strange viewpoints exhibited.
• Interested in shaking bourgeois German culture
out of it complacency through their use of colour
and subject matter.

16. Germany and Colonialism
• As Germany was not unified until 1871, colonisation
was stunted when compared to countries like France,
England, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
• When they finally got to colonising they were only able
to gain parts of Africa (Cameroons and Togo,
Namibia, Riwanda, Burundi) and the South Pacific
(Samoa, New Guinea, Mariana Islands, and Nauru)
• This fuelled their interest in Primitivism (angular faces
with pointed chins, full lips, exaggerated gestures and
poses, lack of concern with proportions, and nudity.

17. Albrecht Dürer Mattias Grünewald Gothic Style
Jagged Shapes
German Medieval and
Renaissance Art
WOODCUT Fauvism
Pictorial aims vs.
Die Brücke forceful expression of
F. Dresden 1905 emotional content
Interest in the
human condition Primitivism
Post-Impressionism
Edvard Munch Vincent Van Gogh Paul Gauguin
Japanese
Paul Cezanne Art

18. Kirchner, The Drinker, Heckel, Two Men Kirchner,
(Self-Portrait), 1915. at the Table, 1911 Peter Schlemihl: Conflict,
1915.
Intense and highly personal subject matter depicted
with emotive use of colour
Die Brücke
F. Dresden 1905
Painting as a medium for social message
Freedom from
traditional
Enamoured with an Work executed intuitively painting
underworld of crime and to capture a freshness of techniques
prostitution sensation
Schmidt-Rotluff, Summer, Heckel,
Kirchner, Five women in the
1913. Nolde, Dance Around Brickworks 1907
Street, 1913.
the Golden Calf, 1910.

19. Pure colours with harsh
Strong use of Black outlines
contrasts used for
expressive purposes
Die Brücke
F. Dresden 1905
Distortion of figures and
Rough drawing style forms