Expressionism in 10 Paintings: A Survey of Key Works and Artists

Key facts

• Expressionism is a modernist movement of the 20th century that sought to convey heightened emotions through distortion and disorientation of color.
• The article features 10 paintings by artists including Marianne von Werefkin, Edvard Munch, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Gabriele Münter, Erich Heckel, Franz Marc, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wassily Kandinsky, and Erma Bossi.
• Marianne von Werefkin was a founder of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München (NKVM), founded in Munich in 1909, which preceded Der Blaue Reiter.
• Werefkin fled Germany in 1914 and emigrated to Ascona, Switzerland, where her painting 'Procession in Ascona' (1924) is set.
• Edvard Munch's 'Young Girls on a Bridge' (1901) is one of 12 similar paintings and is housed at the Hamburger Kunsthalle.
• Karl Schmidt-Rottluff's portrait of Dr. Rosa Schapire (1919) is at Tate, London; Schapire saved the artwork while escaping Nazi oppression in 1939.
• Paula Modersohn-Becker is regarded as a precursor of German Expressionism; her painting 'Girl in a Red Dress Standing Under a Sunflower' (1907) is in a private collection.
• Gabriele Münter's 'Breakfast of the Birds' (1934) is at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; she was a founder of Der Blaue Reiter.
• Erich Heckel's 'House in Dangast' (1908) is at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid; he co-founded Die Brücke.
• Franz Marc's 'Large Blue Horses' (1911) was shown in Der Blaue Reiter's first exhibition and is at the Walker Art Center.
• Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's 'The Belle-Alliance-Platz in Berlin' (1914) is at the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
• Wassily Kandinsky's 'The Blue Rider' (1903) is in a private collection and bridges Impressionism and Expressionism.
• Erma Bossi, a Croatian-born Italian painter, was an original member of the Munich New Association of Artists; her 'Interior with Lamp' (1909) is at Lenbachhaus, Munich.
• The Nazi regime labeled Expressionist art as 'degenerate'.