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.
"A Likely Story" (2020) By Linda Prokop, Original Bronze Sculpture
Located in Denver, CO
"A Likely Story" (2020) By Linda Prokop is an original bronze sculpture that depicts an abstracted portrait of a young girl standing next to a large bear. About the Artist: Linda Pr...
Bronze
$2,746
Bust portrait of a man with his mouth open, hand-carved in sycamore wood
Located in Carballo, ES
Hand-carved sycamore wood sculpture by the artist Álvaro de la Vega (1954, Lugo, Spain) in 2008. It is part of a series of sculptures of facial expressions. The sculpture measures 40...
Wood
Carved banana wood sculpture, expressionist bust, astonished face
Located in Carballo, ES
Hand-carved sycamore wood sculpture by the artist Álvaro de la Vega (1954, Lugo, Spain) in 2008. It is part of a series of sculptures of facial expressions. The sculpture measures 41...
Wood
Women in the Garden, Porcelain Vase
Located in Long Island City, NY
This painted porcelain vase is of Chinese origin. Women can be seen socializing in an ancient Chinese garden. The analogous color scheme creates a serene and comfortable design. Or...
Porcelain
$7,500
Art Deco Expressionist Bronze Judaica Rabbi Sculpture Los Angeles Modernist
By Peter Krasnow
Located in Surfside, FL
Bronze Jewish Rabbi. Original Patina. Art-deco wood carved base. It is signed with initials P.K. and marked "Calif Art Bronze Fdry LA" (California Art Bronze Foundry Los Angeles). it is not dated. PETER KRASNOW (1886-1979), Russian-Ukrainian, American artist painter and sculptor, born Feivish Reisberg, was a California modernist and colorist artist known for his abstract wood sculptures and architectonic hard-edge paintings and drawings which were often based on Hebrew calligraphy and other subjects related to his Jewish heritage...
Bronze
Price Upon Request
The Mystical Supper
Located in New York, NY
Dionisios Fragias is a New York -based artist born on the Greek island of Kefalonia and raised in New York City. He is the protege of the artist Jeff Koons whose years-long mentorshi...
Steel, Stainless Steel
$2,850
H 22 in W 11 in D 10 in
"GRASS SPEAKS IN RIDDLES" Abstract Sculpture 22" x 11" x 10" in by Shawn Kolodny
Located in Culver City, CA
"GRASS SPEAKS IN RIDDLES" Abstract Sculpture 22" x 11" x 10" in by Shawn Kolodny Medium: Stainless Steel & Automotive Paint Creating art to reflect the times we live in, Kolodn...
Steel
"XMITTER" Helmet & Jacket Sculpture
Located in Chicago, IL
To Chicago-based artist Patrick Fitzgerald, his sculptures are a means of traveling through time. Working from found materials, Fitzgerald constructs miniature soap box cars...
Wire
$1,072Sale Price|20% Off
H 25 in W 13 in
"GORBUNOK" Sculptural Lamp by 25" x 13" inch Grigorii Gorkovenko
Located in Culver City, CA
"GORBUNOK" Sculptural Lamp by 25" x 13" inch Grigorii Gorkovenko A desk lamp which is made of genuine wood and filled with special energy and handmade work by the “GV design” master...
Plastic, Wood
$790Sale Price|56% Off
H 8 in W 9.2 in D 6.8 in
After Botero Seated Nude Woman Bronze Sculpture, Contemporary 20th Century
Located in Cuauhtemoc, Ciudad de México
After Fernando Botero – SEATED NUDE WOMAN Bronze Sculpture Edition of 50 This beautifully executed bronze sculpture is an After Fernando Botero work, created in faithful homage t...
Marble, Bronze
Diamond (Red)
By Jeff Koons
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Jeff Koons Title: Diamond (Red) Year: 2020 Medium: Porcelain with metallic chromatic coating Dimensions: 12 1/5 x 15 7/16 x 12 5/8 inches (31 x 39.2 x 32.1 cm) Edition: 599; ...
Porcelain
$3,900
H 10.24 in W 9.06 in D 6.7 in
Freedom, handmade porcelain sculpture of butterflies flying out of a book
Located in Dallas, TX
Freedom is a contemporary porcelain sculpture by Katharine Morling, featuring a dynamic flight of hand-sculpted butterflies emerging from an open book. Executed in fine white porcela...
Clay, Porcelain, Slip, Ink
Monica Banks "Big Lilly (Framed)" 2026
By Monica Banks
Located in New York, NY
Monica Banks Big Lilly (Framed), 2026 glazed English porcelain 7 x 9 in. (ban124) Wall sculpture
Ceramic, Porcelain, Wood
$550
H 12 in W 10 in D 5 in
Keys to My Heart Sculpture, Black and White Porcelain, Contemporary
Located in Dallas, TX
"Keys to My Heart" by Katharine Morling – Black and white porcelain sculpture of pop art surreal key chain with six handmade keys, charms and a locket. Delicate yet bold, "Keys to M...
Ceramic, Clay, Porcelain, Slip, Ink
$2,400
H 16 in W 6 in D 5 in
Bronze and Steel Sculpture by David Kimball Anderson 'Green Bottle Ochre Seeds'
Located in White Plains, NY
'Green Bottle Ochre Seeds' by David Kimball Anderson, 2022. Bronze, steel, and paint, 16 x 6 x 5 in. This sculpture features a square vase cast in bronze a...
Bronze, Steel
$3,000
H 9.5 in W 9 in
Bronze Sculpture Wall Relief Judaica Jewish Matriarchs Modernist Leonard Baskin
Located in Surfside, FL
Leonard Baskin (1922-2000) Jewish Matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah with Hebrew calligraphy Bronze, 1998 9.5 X 9 inches Judaic biblical bronze of Jewish mothers. Leonard Baskin (August 15, 1922 – June 3, 2000) was an American sculptor, illustrator, wood-engraver, printmaker, graphic artist, writer and teacher. Baskin was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. While he was a student at Yale University, he founded Gehenna Press, a small private press specializing in fine book production. From 1953 until 1974, he taught printmaking and sculpture at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Subsequently Baskin also taught at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He lived most of his life in the U.S., but spent nine years in Devon at Lurley Manor, Lurley, near Tiverton, close to his friend Ted Hughes, for whom he illustrated Crow. Sylvia Plath dedicated Sculpto to Leonard Baskin in her famous work, The Colossus and Other Poems (1960). The Funeral Contege (1997) bronze, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, D.C. His public commissions include a bas relief for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and a bronze statue of a seated figure, erected in 1994 for the Holocaust Memorial in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His works are owned by many major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Boca Raton Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Udinotti Museum of Figurative Art and the Vatican Museums. The archive of his work at the Gehenna Press was acquired by the Bodleian Library at Oxford, England, in 2009. The McMaster Museum of Art in Hamilton, Ontario owns over 200 of his works (some religious and biblical), most of which were donated by his brother Rabbi Bernard Baskin. Contemporary Religious Imagery in American Art. Catalog for an exhibition held at the Ringling Museum of Art, March 1-31, 1974. Artists represented: David Aronson, Leonard Baskin, Max Beckmann, Hyman Bloom, Fernando Botero, Paul Cadmus, Marvin Cherney, Arthur G. Dove, Philip Evergood, Adolph Gottlieb, Jonah Kinigstein, Arman, Rico Lebrun, Jack Levine, Louise Nevelson, Barnett Newman, Abraham Rattner, Ben Shahn, Mark Tobey, Max Weber, William Zorach and others.In 1955, he was one of eleven New York artists featured in the opening exhibition at the Terrain Gallery, they showed many great artists, Chaim Koppelman, for many years, headed the gallery's Print Division; printmakers such as Will Barnet, Leonard Baskin, Robert Conover...
Bronze
$1,077
H 7.29 in W 6.7 in D 13.19 in
Japanese Tabako/Tool Box with Kiseru -wabi Sabi-Taisho Era-GSY Gallery Select
Located in London, GB
This antique Japanese Tobacco Box, complete with drawers, a kiseru, is a captivating piece of history. The warm hew of the elm is telling a story ...
Metal
$890
H 7 in W 4 in
"SHURA" Bronze Sculpture 7" x 4" inch by Grigorii Gorkovenko
Located in Culver City, CA
"SHURA" Bronze Sculpture 7" x 4" inch by Grigorii Gorkovenko An elegant shape and free lines are combined together to create an image of the Russi...
Bronze
Sold
H 28.5 in W 12 in D 10 in
"Mother Earth" (2016) By Linda Prokop, Original Bronze Sculpture
Located in Denver, CO
"Mother Earth" (2016) By Linda Prokop is an original bronze sculpture that depicts an abstracted portrait of a woman surrounded by a variety of animals. About the Artist: Linda Prok...
Bronze
Sold
H 9 in W 8 in
Fine 1950's French Expressionist Sculpture in Clay Nude Lady Model c.1950's
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Black Nude Sculpture by Josine Vignon (French 1922-2022) painted clay, approx: 9 x 8 inches provenance: the artists estate
Clay
Sold
H 4 in W 9 in
Fine 1950's French Expressionist Sculpture in Clay Nude Lady Model
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Artists Model by Josine Vignon, French 1922-2022 clay sculpture approx 4 x 9 inches provenance: the artists estate
Clay
"Poppies", Deep Red and Orange Glass, Vase,
Located in Detroit, MI
“Poppies” is a poetic interpretation of a garden flower rendered in exquisite colored glass by Craig Mitchell Smith. Craig is an extraordinary glass artist who is currently active in his Lansing, Michigan studio. He has changed the way we think about glass. He has received national recognition for his glass sculptures and is known throughout the United States for his solo gallery and public garden exhibitions. Craig’s revolutionary techniques in kiln-formed glass inspire experts in the field and is said to be the most innovative kiln glass artist in America today. Craig Mitchell Smith’s glass garden includes a bounty of massive dandelions gone to seed, graceful grapevines on bowing arbors, and brilliant fields of poppies and sunflowers. The Lansing, Michigan, artist has been creating floral forms in kiln-formed glass since 2006 using revolutionary techniques that have poised him as one of the most innovative kiln glass artists in America today. Originally a painter, theatrical set designer, home restorer, and flower arranger, Smith followed a random road into fused glassmaking that has now taken him around the world. Entirely self-taught in glass, the artist believes that his eclectic background and skills with stagecraft influence his methods and how he thinks about his current medium. Smith’s aesthetic is decidedly theatrical, his style painterly. Split nearly evenly between private home installations...
Metal
Fierce Wolf
Located in Bozeman, MT
Wendy Klemperer was born in 1958 in Boston, MA. Raised in Cambridge and Watertown, she was most able to explore her passion for animals and nature during summers spent at her grandmo...
Steel
Sold
H 17 in W 4.5 in D 4.5 in
Art Deco Expressionist Bronze Judaica Rabbi Sculpture Los Angeles Modernist
By Peter Krasnow
Located in Surfside, FL
Bronze Jewish Rabbi. Original Patina. Art-deco wood carved base. It is signed with initials P.K. and marked "Calif Art Bronze Fdry LA" (California Art Bronze Foundry Los Angeles). it is not dated. PETER KRASNOW (1886-1979), Russian-Ukrainian, American artist painter and sculptor, born Feivish Reisberg, was a California modernist and colorist artist known for his abstract wood sculptures and architectonic hard-edge paintings and drawings which were often based on Hebrew calligraphy and other subjects related to his Jewish heritage. Krasnow lived in Los Angeles for most of his life. Born in Novohrad-Volynskyi, Zawill, Ukraine, Krasnow immigrated to the United States in 1907, apprenticing with his father who was an interior decorator. He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago graduating in 1916. While in New York exhibiting at the Whitney Club, he met photographer Edward Weston and began a lifelong friendship. Krasnow and his wife Rose drove cross-country in 1922 to settle in Los Angeles, where he quickly became part of a small but active art community. His notable peers included Weston, fellow artists Henrietta Shore...
Bronze
Corrida Verte
Located in Fort Lauderdale, FL
Corrida Verte is a white earthenware ceramic plate beautifully engraved with engobe, a form of painting with colored clay, and glaze. It is stamped "Madaura Plein Feu/Empreinte Ori...
Ceramic
Young Wood Owl
Located in Fort Lauderdale, FL
Ceramic painted in brown and black on white enamel,, glazed. With knife decoration. From an edition of 500. Height 26 cm. On the underside with the stamps: Madoura Plein Feu as well ...
Ceramic