expresszionizmus

Expresszionizmus is a modernist cultural and artistic movement that originated in the early 20th century in German-speaking Europe, affecting painting, literature, theatre, film, and music. It centers on subjective experience and emotional expression, prioritizing inner reality over realistic representation. The movement sought to convey anxiety, alienation, and spiritual crisis associated with modern life, war, and social upheaval.

Origins and development: Expresszionizmus emerged around 1905 with the German groups Die Brücke (The Bridge) in Dresden and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) in Munich. Influences included late 19th‑century Symbolism, Vincent van Gogh, and Edvard Munch. Critics popularized the term in the 1910s, and the movement quickly spread to Austria, the Czech lands, and beyond, shaping a broader avant-garde sensibility.

Characteristics: Visual art often features distorted forms, angular lines, and bold, expressive colors to convey mood rather than physical likeness. Compositional fragmentation, exaggerated perspective, and a focus on psychological states are common. Thematic concerns include urban alienation, existential angst, trauma from war, spirituality, and a critique of bourgeois values. In literature, theatre, and cinema, expressive rhetoric, symbolic imagery, and dreamlike or grotesque scenarios are typical.

Notable figures and mediums: In painting, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Emil Nolde, Oskar Kokoschka, and Egon Schiele are central. Literature and theatre featured writers and playwrights such as Georg Trakl, Else Lasker-Schüler, Georg Kaiser, and Ernst Toller. In music, composers associated with expressionist aims include Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg. In film, German Expressionist works like Nosferatu (1922) and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) were influential.

Legacy: Expressionism declined after the 1920s but left a lasting impact on modern art and cinema, shaping later movements such as Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism and continuing to influence interpretations of psychological and social experience.