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Expressionism Facts & Worksheets

Expressionism is an artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse within a person.

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Expressionism is an artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse within a person.

See the fact file below for more information on the expressionism or alternatively, you can download our 20-page Expressionism worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

AN INTRODUCTION TO EXPRESSIONISM

  • Dates and countries: roughly 1905-1920, Germany, Austria, France
  • Inspirations: self, psyche, body, sexuality, nature, spirit, emotions, mysticism, distortion of reality, exaggeration, heightened use of color
  • Artists: Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
  • German Expressionism – Expressionism became the dominant art movement in Germany in the years following World War I. It suited the post-war atmosphere of cynicism, alienation, and disillusionment.
  • The artists developed the distortion of form and the deployment of strong colors using jagged, distorted lines, as well as rough, rapid brushwork to convey instability and their emotionally charged atmosphere.
  • It is particularly associated with the Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter groups.
  • Brücke was formed in Dresden in 1905 and was led by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Fritz Bleyl, Erich Heckel, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. The artists explored a heightened use of color; a direct, simplified approach to form; and freedom in their work.
  • Der Blaue Reiter was founded in 1911 by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, as well as Klee, Münter, Jawlensky, Werefkin, and Macke. They were united by an interest in exploring spirituality and a belief that art is more than meets the eye.
  • French Expressionism – The main French artists often associated with Expressionism were Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Henri Matisse.
  • These artists used expressive colors and styles of brushwork depicting emotions and experiences, breaking away from the literal representation of nature in order to express more subjective outlooks or states of mind.
  • Austrian Expressionism – Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka are the main figures of Austrian Expressionism. Their artwork was inspired by moral repression and sexual hypocrisy of the late 19th to early 20th-century Vienna.

EXPRESSIONISM IN OTHER FORMS OF ART

  • In Literature – It grew into an expression of social protest against materialism, complacent bourgeois prosperity, rapid mechanization and urbanization, and the domination of the family within pre-World War I European society.
  • Expressionist writers portrayed in their plays the predicaments of representative symbolic types of characters’ individual mental state.
  • Thomas Stearns Eliot was a British poet known for his Expressionist style as seen in the famous “The Waste Land”.
  • In Theater – The leading character in an Expressionist play declares her woes in long, cleverly delivered monologues that explores youth’s spiritual dismay against the older generation and the various political or revolutionary remedies that present themselves.
  • The most well-known Expressionist play was Reinhard Johannes Sorge’s Der Bettler (The Beggar), which was written in 1912 and performed in 1917.
  • In Film – The most famous film with an Expressionist approach is Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). It is centered around a madman relating his understanding of how he came to be in the asylum.
  • Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) presented the visions of social collapse or the ominous duality of human nature and its capacity for monstrous personal evil.
  • In Music – German musicologist and composer Theodor Adorno said, “The depiction of fear lies at the centre” of Expressionist music, with dissonance predominating so that the “harmonious, affirmative element of art is banished”.
  • Other important Expressionists are Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and Alban Berg, Béla Bartók, Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss.
  • In Architecture – Two buildings inspired by Expressionism are Bruno Taut’s Glass Pavilion of the Cologne Werkbund (1914), and Erich Mendelsohn’s Einstein Tower in Potsdam, Germany (1921).
  • In Sculpture – Ernst Barlach is one of the sculptors who used the Expressionist style. His most well-known art is the Avenger (1914).
  • In Dance – Exponents of Expressionist dance included Mary Wigman (pioneer of Expressionist dance), Rudolf von Laban (“Founding Father of the Expressionist Dance” in Germany), and Pina Bausch (developed Tanztheater dance).

Expressionism Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the expressionism across 20 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Expressionism worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the expressionism which is an artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse within a person.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Expressionism Facts
  • Legendary Arts
  • The Expressionist
  • Coloring Van Gogh Art
  • Expressionist Photography
  • Expressionism Meets Fashion
  • Expressionism in Poetry
  • Expressionist Music
  • Architecture
  • From Pop to Expressionism
  • Expressionist Art

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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