Expressionism

What is expressionism?

Expressionism is a movement that does not want to capture the world as it is, but as we experience it within. Artists transfer emotions and states of the soul onto the canvas, often the oppressive ones: anxiety, loneliness, dread, depression. Its hallmarks are sharp colours, dramatic lines, tension and, not infrequently, the deformation of figures and objects, so that the picture strikes straight at feeling. It is not about what we see, then, but about what we feel.

When and how did expressionism come about?

It was born at the beginning of the twentieth century as a turbulent response to an over-technologised world, social insecurity and the fear of approaching war. It developed above all in Germany, where the tensions in society found their voice in expressive painting. Artists turned away from the faithful recording of reality and looked inwards, to feelings and inner experience. In a restless age, art thus became something of a seismograph of the soul.

Who are the most important expressionists?

Among the movement's forerunners is the Norwegian Edvard Munch, whose The Scream became almost a symbol of all modern anxiety; expressionism proper is made up above all of German painters from the groups Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter, among them Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. We hear echoes of this expressive rendering of the human figure after the Second World War too, in the so-called London School, which includes Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach and Lucian Freud. In the Czech context, the movement's arrival is linked above all to the group Osma, from which Bohumil Kubišta stands out for bringing expression together with cubism. Emotion, in short, has not stopped being a subject even a hundred years on.

How does expressionism stand in the Czech context?

Expressionism developed mainly in Germany, but it strongly influenced Czech art too. Its arrival here is tied above all to the group Osma at the beginning of the twentieth century, and existential themes are typical of the domestic version — questions about the meaning, the weight and the loneliness of human existence. Artists such as Bohumil Kubišta combined expressive urgency with cubist construction of the picture. Czech expressionism also enjoys strong institutional support, so its place in art history is not in doubt.

How does expressionism do on the art market?

Expressive works are much in demand on the market, especially those from the interwar period, of which collectors are particularly fond. Demand is also sustained by the fact that the expressive rendering of the human figure has never gone out of fashion — works of the London School, led by Francis Bacon, are among the most expensive in the world today. Anyone looking for a painting with an urgent human charge knows why so much attention is directed here.

— Anna Pulkertová, founder of Art Part Club