Expressionism

Expressionism

Introduction

Expressionism was a major German movement in art and literature. It rose between 1910 and 1925, around the time of World War I. Unlike realism, which shows life as it is, expressionism focuses on inner feelings and emotions. Artists and writers used distorted forms, strong colors, and symbolic images to express personal visions of fear, despair, or hope. It was not a fixed or united movement, but it left a lasting mark on modern literature, drama, painting, and cinema.

Origins and Precursors

The roots of expressionism can be found in earlier artists and writers. In painting, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Edvard Munch are considered precursors. Munch’s famous work The Cry (1894), showing a screaming figure with a twisted face, became a symbol of expressionist art. In literature, poets like Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud, the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche influenced the movement. The Swedish dramatist August Strindberg, with his intense and symbolic plays, also played a key role in shaping expressionist drama.

Features of Expressionism

Expressionism was a revolt against realism. Instead of describing the external world, it tried to show deep psychological states. Writers and artists exaggerated and distorted reality to express strong feelings. Their works often reflect the anxiety of modern life in industrial and urban society. Many works show isolated individuals who feel helpless in a chaotic, impersonal world. Radical expressionists also dreamed of a new and better society, presenting Utopian hopes for the future.

Expressionism in the Arts

In painting, expressionists used sharp, jagged lines and unnatural, bright colors. Painters like Emil Nolde, Franz Marc, Oskar Kokoschka, and Wassily Kandinsky gave form to powerful emotions rather than realistic images. In poetry, writers like Gottfried Benn and Georg Trakl broke traditional forms of rhyme and meter, relying on symbolic and disturbing imagery. In prose, Franz Kafka became the best-known figure. His novels and stories, filled with nightmare-like events and symbolic characters, perfectly express the spirit of expressionism.

Expressionism in Drama and Film

Drama was one of the most important forms of expressionist literature. Playwrights such as Georg Kaiser (Gas, From Morn to Midnight) and Ernst Toller (Mass Man) created plays filled with emotional intensity, symbolic characters, and fragmented dialogue. Even Bertolt Brecht, in his early works, used expressionist techniques. Instead of realistic characters, expressionist plays often used “types” to show social or moral ideas. Stage design also changed: masks, distorted sets, and dramatic lighting effects were used. Directors like Max Reinhardt introduced innovations such as revolving stages and bold use of sound and light.

Cinema became another major medium of expressionism. German films like Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Friedrich Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922), and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1926) are classics of expressionist cinema. Their twisted sets, shadows, and nightmarish plots gave visual form to fear and psychological tension.

Later Influence

By 1925, expressionism began to decline, and the Nazis in the 1930s banned it in Germany. Yet its influence continued worldwide. In drama, its traces can be seen in Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. In literature, writers like Samuel Beckett, Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, and Thomas Pynchon used expressionist techniques. In poetry, the Beat poets, especially Allen Ginsberg, carried forward its energy. In cinema, directors like Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, and Michelangelo Antonioni carried expressionist ideas into modern film.

Conclusion

Expressionism was not just an art style but a way of showing the deepest struggles of human beings. It rejected realism and focused on personal visions, strong emotions, and distorted realities. Although short-lived as a movement, it changed the face of modern art, drama, literature, and cinema. Its influence continues to shape how artists and writers express the anxieties and hopes of human life.


REFERENCE:

Abrams, M. H., and Geoffrey Galt Harpham. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 11th ed., Cengage Learning, 2015.

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