Expressionism is a modernist movement that started in poetry and painting. I was so excited to learn about this movement. Expressionism originated in Germany at the beginning of the 20th Century. As you can see from the painting to the left, Expressionism deals with expressing yourself through distorting reality according to emotions to create a unique perspective that will send a desired mood or message. Can you guess what is the mood received from this picture? I get the sense that Edvard Munch wanted to show how a person can feel over whelmed that a physical activity must be incorporated to unleash the tensions. Analyzing this painting according to the definition, I find it to be a perfect example. All of the colors used evoke the same feeling. The unleashing of emotions should be expressed with fiery reds and shades of oranges. The shades of blues and grays also show the darkness of emotions.
The main goal of Expressionist artists was to express what it is felt inside instead of the reality of the outside. What is unique about expressionism is the fact that what is felt inside could very well be abstract. It is not bound by the rules of sense and laws. It completely unchains your talents and allows you to be as crazy and over the top as possible. Painters like El Greco, who was reference in many literary works like The Great Gatsby, is considered an Expressionist along with Mexican painter Mathias Goeritz.
Expressionism was so influential in the arts that the movement expanded to other subjects like Literature, Dance, and Cinema. Everyone was on board with this movement. I thought about the short stories that I've read in class that could be analyzed with this idea exposed by expressionism. I think that Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield, A Worn Path by Eudora Welty are both example of expressionistic literary works. In both stories, reality is altered to successfully transmit the emotion of the main characters which could be how the author feels about a certain topic. Katherine Mansfield could feel a certain sympathy towards the elderly that are slowly excluded from society and Eudora Welty passionate about the emotions felt by determined human beings so they decided to alter reality through their stories by using a stream of consciousness point of view. It's really a deep topic that could be talked about for hours. Let's just remember that expressionism is about expressing the inside meaning and emotions one feel instead of the reality. No one likes a normal piece of art.
Can you think of any works that could reflect aspects of Expressionism?
Check out this online documentary on Expressionism.
Jose.
The main goal of Expressionist artists was to express what it is felt inside instead of the reality of the outside. What is unique about expressionism is the fact that what is felt inside could very well be abstract. It is not bound by the rules of sense and laws. It completely unchains your talents and allows you to be as crazy and over the top as possible. Painters like El Greco, who was reference in many literary works like The Great Gatsby, is considered an Expressionist along with Mexican painter Mathias Goeritz.
Expressionism was so influential in the arts that the movement expanded to other subjects like Literature, Dance, and Cinema. Everyone was on board with this movement. I thought about the short stories that I've read in class that could be analyzed with this idea exposed by expressionism. I think that Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield, A Worn Path by Eudora Welty are both example of expressionistic literary works. In both stories, reality is altered to successfully transmit the emotion of the main characters which could be how the author feels about a certain topic. Katherine Mansfield could feel a certain sympathy towards the elderly that are slowly excluded from society and Eudora Welty passionate about the emotions felt by determined human beings so they decided to alter reality through their stories by using a stream of consciousness point of view. It's really a deep topic that could be talked about for hours. Let's just remember that expressionism is about expressing the inside meaning and emotions one feel instead of the reality. No one likes a normal piece of art.
Can you think of any works that could reflect aspects of Expressionism?
Check out this online documentary on Expressionism.
Jose.
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