A term used to denote the use of distortion and exaggeration for emotional effect, which first surfaced in the art literature of the early twentieth century. When applied in a stylistic sense, with reference in particular to the use of intense colour, agitated brushstrokes, and disjointed space. Rather than a single style, it was a climate that affected not only the fine arts but also dance, cinema, literature and the theatre.

Expressionism is an artistic style in which the artist attempts to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in him. He accomplishes his aim through distortion, exaggeration, primitivism, and fantasy and through the vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of formal elements. In a broader sense Expressionism is one of the main currents of art in the later 19th and the 20th centuries, and its qualities of highly subjective, personal, spontaneous self-expression are typical of a wide range of modern artists and art movements.

Unlike Impressionism, its goals were not to reproduce the impression suggested by the surrounding world, but to strongly impose the artist’s own sensibility to the world’s representation. The expressionist artist substitutes to the visual object reality his own image of this object, which he feels as an accurate representation of its real meaning. The search of harmony and forms is not as important as trying to achieve the highest expression intensity, both from the aesthetic point of view and according to idea and human critics.

Expressionism assessed itself mostly in Germany, in 1910. As an international movement, expressionism has also been thought of as inheriting from certain medieval artforms and, more directly, Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh and the fauvism movement.

The most well known German expressionists are Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Lionel Feininger, George Grosz, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, August Macke, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein; the Austrian Oskar Kokoschka, the Czech Alfred Kubin and the Norvegian Edvard Munch are also related to this movement. During his stay in Germany, the Russian Kandinsky was also an expressionism addict.

http://www.artmovements.co.uk/expressionism.htm

Fauvism

Fauvism (pronounced Foev-ism) was the most optomistic movement linked to expressionism. This can be explained by its birthplace, in Paris. When viewing these works, it is easy to imagine the bohemian lifestyle of the artists. Parisians enjoyed getting together in the cafes, listening to music and drinking wine. They also enjoyed outdoor activities in the sun. Their art expresses more of pleasure than it does of the complex (often negative) emotions expressed in the north.

Fauvism was a brief but important art movement that followed the Post-Impressionism movement in France. Matisse is regarded as the leader of the movement, but Andre Derain was also significant (Braque also briefly painted in the style, before his cubist experiments). Each part of their paintings had loud colors, primitive elements, and wild ideas. Although the movement only lasted four years, it would have a profound effect on future artists, especially in terms of their use of color. Though initially inspired by Impressionism and Post Impressionist works, the colors used were even more saturated and high keyed. The effect was very bold, almost loud. Fauvism is recognized for its influence on cubism and modern expressionism in its flattened space, disregard for natural forms and its love of unbridled color.