While “expressionist” is used to describe any art that avoids naturalism and instead employs a bold use of flattened forms and intense brushwork, Expressionist art formally describes early-20th-century work from Europe that drew on Symbolism and confronted issues such as urbanization and capitalism. Expressionist artists experimented in paintings and prints with skewed perspectives, abstraction and unconventional, bright colors to portray how isolating and anxious the world felt rather than how it appeared.
Between 1905 and 1920, Austrian and German artists, in particular, were inspired by Postimpressionists such as Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh in their efforts to strive for a new authenticity in their work. In its geometric patterns and decorative details, Expressionist art was also marked by eclectic sources like German and Russian folk art as well as tribal art from Africa and Oceania, which the movement’s practitioners witnessed at museums and world’s fairs.
Groups of artists came together to share and promote the themes now associated with Expressionism, such as Die Brücke (The Bridge) in Dresden, which included Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and investigated alienation and the dissolution of society in vivid color. In Munich, Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a group led by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, instilled Expressionism with a search for spiritual truths. In his iconic painting The Scream, prolific Norwegian painter Edvard Munch conveyed emotional turmoil through his depiction of environmental elements, such as the threatening sky.
Expressionism shifted around the outbreak of World War I, with artists using more elements of the grotesque in reaction to the escalation of unrest and violence. Printmaking was especially popular, as it allowed artists to widely disseminate works that grappled with social and political issues amid this time of upheaval. Although the art movement ended with the rise of Nazi Germany, where Expressionist creators were labeled “degenerate,” the radical ideas of these artists would influence Neo-Expressionism that emerged in the late 1970s with painters like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Francesco Clemente.
Find a collection of authentic Expressionist paintings, sculptures, prints and more art on 1stDibs.
Mirando al Cielo 10 - Renaissance Style Landscape Photography Dreamscape Birds
By Rosa Basurto
Located in Brighton, GB
Mirando al Cielo 10 is a beautiful 30cm x 30cm Digital Print on 50cm x 50cm Cotton Paper. This is a Limited Edition of 9 + 2 Artist Proofs in this size. In this landscape image, a b...
Photographic Paper, Digital, C Print, Color
Mirando al Cielo 14 - Murmuration Starlings Swallows Poppy Field
By Rosa Basurto
Located in Brighton, GB
Mirando al Cielo 14 is a beautiful 30cm x 30cm Digital Print on 50cm x 50cm Cotton Paper. This is a Limited Edition of 9 + 2 Artist Proofs in this size. A million birds wheel and bat around the sky above a field of red poppies. The poppies shoot into the sky like a field of trees. In this composition Basurto plays with proportion and with perception of reality; are the flowers real...
Photographic Paper, Digital, C Print, Color
Manhattanhenge Phenomenon, Mystical Light Setting Sun, Manhattan Solstice
Located in Miami, FL
Mitchell Funk has been chronicling lighting effects in New York for over 50 years. This recent photography captures the magical moment of golden light pouring into 42nd street while...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment
Abstract Church - Manipulated Photography
Located in Miami, FL
This ia an early example of photo manipulation. Photographer put a match to the 35mm emulsion to the burned bubble effect and then sandwiched it with colored gels in a double exposur...
Photographic Paper, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
Sound of the Sea
By Harold Davis
Located in Boston, MA
Artist Commentary: Using an x-ray photograph as its basis, this expressive study in motion echoes work by Picasso and other modernists. Words that describe this piece: shell, Nauti...
Photographic Paper
Abstract Church - Manipulated Photography
Located in Miami, FL
This is an early example of photo manipulation. Photographer put a match to the 35mm emulsion to the burned bubble effect and then sandwiched it with colored gels in a double exposur...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment
Manhattanhenge Phenomenon, Mystical Light Setting Sun, Manhattan Solstice
Located in Miami, FL
Mitchell Funk has been chronicling lighting effects in New York for over 50 years. This recent photography captures the magical moment of golden light pouring into 42nd street while...
Photographic Paper, Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Archival Pigment
Sugarcane Moon-Limited Edition
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
30 x 45 inches ($5200) and 40 x 60 inches ($7200), limited editions of 10, printed on Archival Watercolor Fine Art Paper, 335 gram weight, signed by the artist. Cheryl Maeder was bo...
Archival Paper, Photographic Paper
$2,200
H 29 in W 40 in
Shades of Pale - abstract photograph of painterly details of blue toned wall
By Frank Schott
Located in San Francisco, CA
Shades of Pale (Wallscape) by Frank Schott from a series of photographic observances capturing urban textures and color palettes 29 x 40 inches / 74cm x 102cm edition of 25 si...
Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment, Archival Ink, Giclée
$3,800
H 48 in W 86 in
Airfield - large scale aerial observation of aeronautical facility
Located in San Francisco, CA
large scale photograph morphing into a mesmerizing abstract tapestry, a highly detailed aerial photograph, on closer observation morphing into an abstract pictorial tapestry of deser...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment, Giclée
$2,200
H 40 in W 32 in
Cloud Study VII - large scale photograph of dramatic cloudscapes in summer sky
By Frank Schott
Located in San Francisco, CA
Large scale original art photography from a series of dramatic cloud atlas and abstract sky scapes observations above the Pacific Ocean Cloud Study VII by Frank Schott 40 x 32 inc...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Giclée, Archival Pigment
Wallscape V ( 40 x 32" / 102 x 81cm )
By Frank Schott
Located in San Francisco, CA
WALLSCAPE V by Frank Schott from a series of photographic observances capturing urban textures and wallscape color palettes 40 x 32 inches / 102cm x 81cm edition of 25 signed 60 x...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment
$949
H 24 in W 36 in D 0.1 in
'Spring Rain' Photograph Cherry blossom Sakura flowers green white nature
Located in Penzance, GB
'Spring Rain' ('Mono No Aware' Series) 24 x 36" edition Limited edition archival photograph, hand signed and numbered. Unframed _________________ The cherry blossoms burst from naked...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Digital, Giclée, Archi...
$5,200
H 75 in W 58 in
Cloud Study VII - large scale photograph of dramatic cloudscapes in summer sky
By Frank Schott
Located in San Francisco, CA
Large scale original art photography from a series of dramatic cloud atlas and abstract sky scapes observations above the Pacific Ocean Cloud Study VII by Frank Schott 75 x 58 inc...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Giclée, Archival Pigment
$719Sale Price|20% Off
H 29.5 in W 27.5 in D 0.15 in
Moon Over (After Ansel Adams), Abstract Black & White Photo by Bill Clark
By Bill Clark
Located in Soquel, CA
"Moon Over", an abstract black & white photograph after Ansel Adams by Bill Clark (American, 20th Century). Signed "Bill Clark" and dated "1996" lower right. Titled "Moon Over" lower...
Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin
$949
H 24 in W 36 in D 0.1 in
'Spring couplet' Photograph Cherry blossom Sakura flowers white pink nature
Located in Penzance, GB
'Spring Couplet' ('Mono No Aware' Series) 24 x 36" edition Limited edition archival photograph, hand signed and numbered. Unframed _________________ The dance of the cherry blossoms ...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Digital, Giclée, Archi...
$1,850
H 31 in W 31 in D 0.1 in
"Lily 2" Black & White Photography 31" x 31" inch Edition 1/7 by Olha Stepanian
Located in Culver City, CA
"Lily 2" Black & White Photography 31" x 31" inch Edition 1/7 by Olha Stepanian Printed on Epson Professional Paper Signed and numbered by the artist Comes with COA issued by t...
Photographic Paper
$2,200
H 40 in W 40 in
Hemisphere I - large format photograph of abstract liquid cloudscapes in water
Located in San Francisco, CA
large scale photography of mesmerizing color compositions of liquid cloudscape painting in water, hypnotizing abstract liquidscapes from the body of works titled 'Hemisphere' Hemisp...
Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment, Giclée, Archival Ink
$4,400
H 67 in W 48 in
Caleidoscope II Abstract Photography, Signed Edition of 7, 67x48\"
Located in San Francisco, CA
Mesmerizing abstract color play of muted tones and surreal shapes, from a series of still life works created entirely in camera Caleidoscope II by Christian Stoll 67 x 48 inches (1...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, Archival Pigment, Giclée
Sold
H 19.69 in W 19.69 in D 0.04 in
Mirando al Cielo 7 - Rosa Basurto, Weather, Landscape, Nature, Mist, Rainstorm
By Rosa Basurto
Located in Brighton, GB
Please be aware that the US recently imposed an import duty on photographs printed in the last 20 years which may apply if you are purchasing and importing this to the US. Mirando a...
Photographic Paper, Digital