S IO N IS M
EX P R ES
EXPRESSIONISM
was a modernist
movement, initially in
painting, originating in
Germany at the beginning
of the 20th century
EXPRESSIONISM
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
Head of a Woman 'Medusa' (1923)
Museum of Fine Arts, Lyon.
By Alexei von Jawlensky.
One of the most colourful
EXPRESSIONISM
Expressionist artists sought
to express meaning or
emotional experience
rather than physical reality
The Scream
1893
Edvard Munch
•Icon of modern art
•show a figure with
an agonized
expression against a
landscape with a
tumultuous orange
sky
EXPRESSIONISM
was developed before the First World
War. It remained popular, particularly
in Berlin.
The style extended to a wide range
of the arts, including expressionist
architecture and theatre.
EXPRESSIONISM
The term is sometimes suggestive
of angst.
The Expressionist emphasis on
individual perspective has been
characterized as a reaction to
positivism and other artistic
styles such as Naturalism and
Impressionism.
EXPRESSIONISM
The term refers to an "artistic style in which
the artist seeks to depict not objective
reality but rather the subjective emotions
and responses that objects and events
arouse within a person."
Often the work is unimpressive
aesthetically, yet has the capacity to cause
the viewer to experience extreme emotions
with the drama and often horror of the
scenes depicted.
EXPRESSIONISM
Expressionism has been likened
to Baroque by critics such as
art historian Michel Ragon and
German philosopher Walter
Benjamin.
BAROQUE
The Baroque is often thought of as a
period of artistic style that used
exaggerated motion and clear, easily
interpreted detail to produce drama,
tension, exuberance, and grandeur in
sculpture, painting, architecture,
literature, dance, and music.
lanta and Hippomenes (detail), by Guido Reni
(1575-1642), Italian Baroque painter
EXPRESSIONISM
"Expressionism doesn't shun
the violently unpleasant
effect, while Baroque does.
Expressionism throws some
terrific 'fuck yous', Baroque
doesn't. Baroque is well-
mannered."
Vincent Van
Gogh
Vincent van Gogh is
considered the
greatest Dutch
painter after
Rembrandt, although
he remained poor and
virtually unknown
throughout his life.
March 30, 1853 - July 29, 1890
Where did Vincent van Gogh grow up?
Vincent van Gogh was born in the
Netherlands in 1853. His father and
grandfather were ministers, but
others in his family worked in the
art world. Vincent had two brothers
and three sisters. He was closest to
his younger brother Theo.
Although he enjoyed drawing from the
time he was a young boy, Vincent had a
number of other jobs before he decided
to work as an artist full time. He worked
as a teacher in London and then as a
minister. He also worked in a book store,
an art gallery, and as a missionary. At
around the age of 27, van Gogh decided to
devote himself completely to art.
Early Years
When Vincent first
started drawing he
sketched pictures using
pencils or charcoal sticks.
He used some watercolors
as well. He liked to draw
pictures of poor
The Potato Eaters
hardworking people.
Eventually he began to
paint using oil paints.
Early Years In this early part of his
career, van Gogh used a
lot of dark colors such as
browns and dark greens.
His pictures were often
somber or sad. His most
famous early painting was
The Potato Eaters called The Potato Eaters.
It was a dark picture of a
peasant family eating
potatoes for dinner.
Letters to His Brother
Much of what we know about van Gogh
comes from letters he wrote to his
brother Theo. Theo worked in an art
gallery in Paris and supported
Vincent's art career. He sent Vincent
money and encouraged him. Theo
tried to sell Vincent's paintings, but
no one wanted to buy them.
Theo wrote to Vincent to
YEARS in PARIS tell him about a new style
of painting in Paris called
Impressionism. In 1886
Vincent moved to Paris to
learn from these new
painters. His art became
influenced by painters such
as Claude Monet,
Edgar Degas, and Camille
Self Portrait of van Gogh
Pissarro. He also became
good friends with artist Paul
Gauguin.
ng this time.
YEARS in PARIS During this time van Gogh
began to use brighter colors.
His brushwork also became
more broken. He painted
subjects from the streets and
cafes of Paris as well as the
countryside. Van Gogh also
became interested in painting
portraits of people. When he
couldn't find models, he would
Self Portrait of van Gogh paint himself for practice. He
painted over twenty self
portraits during this time.
Arles, France
In 1888 van Gogh moved south to Arles,
France to start up an artist's commune.
He rented out a yellow house to live in and
invited artist Paul Gauguin to join him. He
loved the vibrant colors and the bright
sun of Arles.
Van Gogh began painting with intensity
and emotion. The colors in his paintings
became more vibrant and bright.
Vincent painted hundreds of pictures
during this time, sometimes painting
masterpieces in a single day. He became
fully obsessed with art.
Mental Hospital
In 1889 van Gogh committed himself to a
mental hospital
He still continued to
paint and painted one
of his most famous
paintings Starry Night
Van Gogh's mental state continued
to deteriorate. On July 29, 1890
he died from a self-inflicted
bullet wound to the chest.
Legacy
Although he wasn't famous during his
lifetime, today he is considered one of
the greatest and most influential artists
of his time. Many of his paintings sell for
millions of dollars today. There are over
800 surviving oil paintings as well as over
a thousand water colors and sketches of
his work.
Did he really cut off his ear?
Yes. After an
argument with painter
Paul Gauguin, van Gogh
went home and cut off
part of his left ear
with a razor blade. He
then wrapped up the
ear in a cloth and
presented it to a
woman as a "present".
Famous
paintings
Starry Night
Starry Night Over the
Rhone
Still Life with a Basket of Apples
Still Life with a Basket of Potatoes,
Surrounded by Autumn Leaves and
Vegetables
Autumn Landscape 1885
FRANCIS BACON
- an Irish-born
British figurative
painter known for
his bold, graphic
and emotionally
raw imagery
(28 October 1909 – 28 April 1992)
His painterly but
abstracted figures
typically appear
isolated in glass or
steel geometrical
cages, set against flat,
nondescript
backgrounds
Center panel Study for a Self-
Portrait—Triptych, 1985–86. Private
collection.
Bacon began painting
during his early 20s
and worked only
sporadically until his
mid-30s
Head VI (1948) (Arts Council of
England)
Unsure of his ability as a painter, he
drifted and earned his living as an
interior decorator and the designer of
furniture, rugs and bathroom tiles
Later, he admitted that his career was
delayed because he had spent too long
looking for a subject that would
sustain his interest
His breakthrough came with the 1944 triptych
Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a
Crucifixion which sealed his reputation as a
uniquely bleak chronicler of the human
condition
*considered Bacon's
first mature piece
The art critic Wieland
Schmied noted that
while the early works
are "aesthetically
pleasing", they lack "a
sense of urgency or
inner necessity; they
are beautiful, but
lifeless."
Self portrait of the Irish artist
Francis Bacon (1909-1992) -
Style:Abstract Expressionism
Bacon admitted that his early works
were not successful; they were
merely decorative and lacking in
substance
He was often harshly self-critical
during this period, and would abandon
or destroy canvasses before they
were completed.
He abandoned the Crucifixion theme,
then largely withdrew from painting in
frustration,[8] instead immersing
himself in love affairs, drinking and
gambling.
When he returned to the topic of the
Crucifixion eleven years later, he retained
some of the stylistic elements he had
developed earlier, such as the elongated
and dislocated organic forms that he now
based on The Oresteia.
He continued to incorporate the spatial
device he was to use many times
throughout his career—three lines
radiating from this central figure, which
was first seen in Crucifixion, 1933.
Triptych 1976
Bacon recalled, "I was in a bad mood of drinking,
and I did it under tremendous hangovers and drink;
I sometimes hardly knew what I was doing. I think
perhaps the drink helped me to be a bit freer."
He destroyed many of his
earlier canvasses, and
tried to suppress those
that had left his studio.
Bacon was emphatic that
no pre-1944 images be
admitted into his canon,
and most of the early art
critics agreed with this
position.
Bacon insisted to his
death that no
retrospective should
feature paintings pre-
dating 1944.
Expressionist
Architecture
an architectural movement that
developed in Europe during the first
decades of the 20th century in
parallel with the expressionist visual
and performing arts, that especially
developed and dominated in
Germany.
The term
"Expressionist
architecture" initially
described the activity
of the German, Dutch,
Austrian, Czech and
Danish avant garde
from 1910 until 1930.
*AVANT GARDE - new and
unusual or experimental ideas,
especially in the arts, or the
people introducing them
The style was characterised by an early-
modernist adoption of novel materials,
formal innovation, and very unusual
massing, sometimes inspired by
natural biomorphic forms, sometimes
by the new technical possibilities
offered by the mass production of
brick, steel and especially glass.
instein Tower in Potsdam near Vitra Design Museum, by
Berlin, 1919-22 (Erich Mendelsohn) Frank Gehry, 1989
Auditorio de Tenerife Adán Mártin
opened in 2003
is a luxury hotel located in
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
It has been called 'The
world's only 7 star Hotel' and
is the third tallest hotel in
the world; however, 39% of
its total height is made up of
non-occupiable space.
The shape of the structure is
designed to mimic the sail of a
ship.
Burj Al Arab
EXPRESSIONISM
(THEATRE)
The extreme simplification of characters
to mythic types, choral effects,
declamatory dialogue and heightened
intensity would become characteristic
of later Expressionist plays.
FAMOUS
PLAYS
The Emperor Jones
Elmer Rice
(The AddingMachine)
The End