Expressionism, the "bridge" and "blue rider"

If you want to get to know art, you will deal with styles - such as Expressionism - because the styles are important clues that help us classify art.

The individual artist is informed of a style in his commitment. Alternatively, it can be better grasped by the artistic layperson through his classification in a style because it obviously feels attracted to what is expressed by this style.

Understanding the styles helps to understand art, and Expressionism is one of the most important styles of art . Expressionism comes from the Latin "Expressio", translated "expression". In an art direction of this name, the expression of the artistic works should obviously be in the foreground. How this is meant exactly can only be determined in delimitation to other art styles.

Expressionism as a new style of art

Expressionism as a art era initially opposes naturalism , the traditional realistic way of portraying things in the picture. Impressionism , symbolism and fauvism also had this intention of the innovation What is the difference to these art styles?

Expressionism primarily wants to make the artistic experience understandable, only then do aesthetics, artistic appeals and the factual level come. This is a diametrical contrast to impressionism and fauvism and their visual design methods, which were the first goals to see the capture of impression or the skilful composition of colors and rooms.

It is also a completely different approach of artistic renewal than that the symbolism intends, which remained with naturalistic forms of representation and, above all, redefined the mental depth of the image. The Expressionists are in a never known manner freely with colors and shapes, they reduce their motifs to striking elements, they dissolve the traditional perspective. The expressionist artists did not want to map impressions or beautiful forms, but rather express their subjective emotions.

At the end of the 19th century, the first works with expressionist hints were created in response to impressionism. The painters were Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Edvard Munch and other established artists looking for new forms of expression.

The bridge"

The second expressionist wave was even more violent, with artists like Georges Rouault and Picasso in his early work. In Germany, the artistic movement was first called Expressionism in the early 20th century when the Dresden bridge was founded in 1905.

The "bridge" was founded in Dresden in 1905 by artists such as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Emil Nolde . She sought to free the art of traditional norms and to portray the raw, often shocking emotions of life.

She worked until 1913. Significant works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Otto Mueller, Erich Heckel and Max Pechstein created here.

Their works were characterized by delicate colors, distorted shapes and dynamic compositions, which draw the viewer directly into the emotional storm of the scenes shown. 

The "blue rider"

Another Expressionist Association of Artists was the new artist association Munich, in which famous names such as Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Gabriele Münter and Marianne von Werefkin came together. In 1912 the editorial team and artist association "Blauer Rider" emerged. The "blue rider" continued the expressionist way of working until the abstraction.

In contrast to the "bridge", the "Blue Rider" under the direction of Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc placed great emphasis on spiritualistic and abstract elements. They looked for a universal expression beyond the physical reality and researched the connection between color and feeling. This mutual influence not only promoted a new perspective on art, but also created space for a deeper examination of human existence in the tense context of its time.

This was possible because the program of German Expressionism was actually only negatively defined. It was about not painting it faithfully, not conventional and not bourgeois. Expressionism was not recognizable by style features, but a mental attitude.

The artists who worked in the vicinity of the Blue Rider are classified as important pioneers of modern art of the 20th century. However, the loose relationship they shaped had only existed until the beginning of the First World War. The blue rider dissolved in 1914.

First World War and the consequences of Expressionism

The First World War had disturbing influence on the artists of the time, which also meant that expressionism was subsequently replaced or overlaid by new styles:

Constructivism rejected the previously grown formal and visual language of painting . The new objectivity turned to socially critical image topics. Dadaism revolted against every well -known art form and against the society of time and its value systems.