As the name suggest, expressionism is a form of artistic expression that were employed by artists to reflect their feelings. German expressionism emerged in Germany following her defeat in the First World War (River, 2007). The art replaced the existing impressionism. The two form of arts differed in the meanings portrayed by the paints. While the impressionists were more concerned with the individual interpretation of a phenomenon, the expressionists were concerned with the internal emotions of the artists (Getlein, 2005).
This paper will evaluate the main characteristic of the expressionist arts, and follow the life the life of a famous expressionist artist, Emil Nolde, to demonstrate the effects of personal experiences on the choice of the art form.
Given that the arts rose at a time when the country was emerging from the damaging world war one, the art reflected the bitterness and the pain that characterized the German society at that point in history (Getlein, 2005). The artists portrayed the internal chaos. The paintings, as was evident from the exhibitions in the museum, used dark and violent images that were at the heart of the artists and their society.
[...] Emil Nolde added a mystical dimension to German expressionism (Bradley, 1986). Emil travelled a lot, this exposed him to various forms of arts, especially in the period when he lived in Switzerland. Perhaps due to his exposure to the arts of his time and his low educational background, he developed feelings of being alone, prosecuted and misunderstood (Bradley, 1986). He made postcards where he depicted the Swiss Alps in humanoid form (Bradley, 1986). His drawings depicted them as raging giants, and they were popular among the masses, inspiring him to quit his job at the time and become a painter. [...]
[...] Perhaps this is the main reason why expressionism originated from Germany (Bradley, 1986). Though the form of art had a big influence on the German people, the lack of realistic features contributed to its downfall after the 1920's (Getlein, 2005). Though the arts are still popular, they are merely symbolic of a historic period to the German people. Another example of an artist whose work was influenced by their life experiences is Joseph Beuys. He was a pilot of a German Luftwaffe in the Second World War, and his entire family was killed in the same war. [...]
[...] The painting was not the only way that the expressionists displayed their works. There were also expressionist films that originated in Germany at this time, and they resembled the current genre of horror movies (Getlein, 2005). The concentrated on death and fatality. Like the paintings, their principal purpose is to communicate the plight of a defeated nation that was plunged into poverty and depression. This paper has proposed that expressionism art was based on the state of the mind of the artist. [...]
[...] The art replaced the existing impressionism. The two form of arts differed in the meanings portrayed by the paints. While the impressionists were more concerned with the individual interpretation of a phenomenon, the expressionists were concerned with the internal emotions of the artists (Getlein, 2005). This paper will evaluate the main characteristic of the expressionist arts, and follow the life the life of a famous expressionist artist, Emil Nolde, to demonstrate the effects of personal experiences on the choice of the art form. [...]
[...] The internal emotions and life experiences of the artists reflected the feelings of the whole society and was the inspiration behind the rise of the expressionist style of art. References Bradley, W. S. (1986). Emil Nolde and the German expressionism: a prophet in his personal land. Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research Press. Getlein, Mark Gilbert's Living With Art. 7th edition. Boston: McGraw Hill. pp 505-508 River, New Jersey (2007): Prentice Hall. [...]
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