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Understanding Expressionism in Art

Expressionism was a modernist movement originating in Germany in the early 20th century that sought to present a subjective perspective and distort reality for emotional effect. Expressionist artists expressed meaning and experience rather than physical reality. The style was popular during the Weimar Republic, particularly in Berlin, and extended to many art forms. The Scream is the popular name for four versions of a composition created by Edvard Munch between 1893-1910 that depict a figure with an agonized expression against a tumultuous sky, and are icons of modern art. It is among El Greco's best known depictions of the sky in Western art, featuring sharp contrasts and taking liberties with Toledo's actual layout.

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9 views2 pages

Understanding Expressionism in Art

Expressionism was a modernist movement originating in Germany in the early 20th century that sought to present a subjective perspective and distort reality for emotional effect. Expressionist artists expressed meaning and experience rather than physical reality. The style was popular during the Weimar Republic, particularly in Berlin, and extended to many art forms. The Scream is the popular name for four versions of a composition created by Edvard Munch between 1893-1910 that depict a figure with an agonized expression against a tumultuous sky, and are icons of modern art. It is among El Greco's best known depictions of the sky in Western art, featuring sharp contrasts and taking liberties with Toledo's actual layout.

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Dessy Ree
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© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Expressionism

Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany


at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective
perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas.[1]
[2]
 Expressionist artists sought to express meaning[3] or emotional experience rather than physical
reality.[3][4]

Expressionism was developed as an avant-garde style before the First World War. It remained
popular during the Weimar Republic,[1]particularly in Berlin. The style extended to a wide range of the
arts, including expressionist architecture, painting, literature, theatre, dance, film and music.

The term is sometimes suggestive of angst. In a general sense, painters such as Matthias
Grünewald and El Greco are sometimes termed expressionist, though in practice the term is applied
mainly to 20th-century works. The Expressionist emphasis on individual perspective has been
characterized as a reaction to positivism and other artistic styles such
as Naturalism and Impressionism.[5]

The Scream

The Scream (Norwegian: Skrik) is the popular name given to each of four versions of a composition,
created as both paintings andpastels, by the Expressionist artist Edvard Munch between 1893 and
1910. Der Schrei der Natur (The Scream of Nature) is the title Munch gave to these works, all of
which show a figure with an agonized expression against a landscape with a tumultuous orange
[Link] Lubow has described The Scream as "an icon of modern art, a Mona Lisa for our time."[1]

Edvard Munch created the four versions in various media. The National Gallery, Oslo, holds one of
two painted versions (1893, shown at right). The Munch Museum holds the other painted version
(1910, see gallery) and a pastel version from 1893. These three versions have not traveled for
years.[2]
The fourth version (pastel, 1895) was sold for $119,922,600 at Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern
Art auction on 2 May 2012 to financier Leon Black,[3][4] the second highest nominal price paid for a
painting at auction.[5] The painting was on display in the Museum of Modern Art in New York from
October 2012 to April 2013.

Also in 1895, Munch created a lithograph stone of the image. Of the lithograph prints produced by
Munch, several examples survive.[6] Only approximately four dozen prints were made before the
original stone was resurfaced by the printer in Munch's absence.[7]

The Scream has been the target of several high-profile art thefts. In 1994, the version in the National
Gallery was stolen. It was recovered several months later. In 2004, both The
Scream and Madonna were stolen from the Munch Museum, and were both recovered two years
later.

El Greco View of Toledo

It is among the best known depictions of the sky in Western art, along with Vincent van Gogh's The
Starry Night, some landscapes by William Turner, and some works by Monet. It features sharp color
contrast between the sky and the hills below. Painted in a Mannerist (or Baroque) style, the work
takes liberties with the actual layout of Toledo (some buildings are depicted in different positions
than their actual location, though the Castle of San Servando is accurately depicted on the side). It is
signed on the lower right corner by El Greco.

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