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.
$4,850
Ready to Swim -21st Century, Contemporary Figurative Portrait, Children, Africa
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique; it is not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Arti...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
women Camelias
Located in London, London
Stained Glass Opalescent Glass Leaded Glass / Copper Foil Hand-Blown Glass "The dimensions listed are for the pictured panel. This design can be custom-scaled and fabricated to...
Glass, Blown Glass
$3,850
Violinist - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Abstraction, Women, Musical
By Olajide Kuti
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Ola...
Canvas, Acrylic
Solitude - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Abstraction, Modern Men
By Olajide Kuti
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Ola...
Canvas, Acrylic
$5,350
Garden of Tenderness - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Abstraction, Women
By Olajide Kuti
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Ola...
Canvas, Acrylic
$3,500Sale Price|30% Off
Nude in Venice: Large Oil/Canvas Contemporary Art 55x40in Unstretched inFlorida
Located in Forest Hills, NY
"Nude in Venice" - original large art by Paula Craioveanu - Contemporary Expressionism Original, large, unique painting, oil on canvas, 55x40in / 140x102cm. Shipped rolled in a tube...
Canvas, Oil
$3,080Sale Price|20% Off
Who Cares If I'm Waiting -21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Horse
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique; it is not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Arti...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
$3,411
Grandma`s kingdom. Childhood, home, landscape, houses, family, summer, rural
Located in Oslo, NO
The landscape is built the way memories are, somewhere uneven, somewhere brighter than they ever were, and impossible to measure. The houses lean into one another like old neighbors ...
Canvas, Oil
Happy corner. Calm, blue, village, landscape, small, framed, gift, houses, rural
Located in Oslo, NO
A silent landscape lies in blue, mint and orange, as if dusk has softly drifted into a dream. The hills melt into each other like a slow breath, and the air feels light and the life ...
Canvas, Oil
$2,961Sale Price|26% Off
Expressive Castilian Landscape Oil Painting with Olive Trees and Impasto Spain
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Expressive Castilian Landscape Oil Painting with Olive Trees and Impasto Artist: Ulpiano Carrasco Title: Verano en Castillejo Year: 1998 Technique: Oil on canvas Artwork dimensions: 54 × 65 cm / 21.26 × 25.59 in Framed dimensions: 78 × 89 cm / 30.71 × 35.04 in Signature: Signed and dated on the reverse Inscription: Titled “Verano en Castillejo” on the reverse Framing: Framed Condition: Good overall condition, with rich original impasto and visible pictorial texture Description A vibrant expressive landscape by Spanish artist Ulpiano Carrasco, titled Verano en Castillejo and dated 1998 on the reverse. This oil on canvas represents a powerful Castilian landscape, built through dense impasto, energetic brushwork and a luminous palette of greens, yellows, blues, whites and earthy reds. The composition captures an open rural panorama with olive trees, rolling cultivated fields and distant hills, transforming the Spanish countryside into an intense chromatic experience. Carrasco does not approach landscape as simple topography. His painting turns nature into matter, rhythm and emotion. The fields appear almost sculpted with paint, while the olive trees emerge as dark, expressive forms against the vibrating surface of the land. The result is a landscape full of movement, heat and Mediterranean-Castilian atmosphere. The work is especially attractive for collectors of Spanish contemporary landscape painting, expressive impasto painting, Mediterranean landscapes, olive tree paintings...
Oil
$3,316Sale Price|26% Off
Venice Palace and Gondola Mooring Colorful Impasto Canal View Oil Painting Italy
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Venice Palace and Gondola Mooring, Colorful Impasto Canal View Artist: Ulpiano Carrasco Title: Palacio y embarcadero en Venecia Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 60 × 73 cm / 23.6 ×...
Oil
$360Sale Price|20% Off
What Does The Future Hold 1 -21st Century Contemporary, Portrait, Modern Fashion
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gal...
Canvas, Oil
Cerne Abbas, Original painting, landscape, contemporary
Located in Deddington, GB
Cerne Abbas is an Original Oil painting by Eleanor Woolley. Focusing in on the Valley of Cerne Abbas, this painting depicts the sloping hills climbing away from the village towards t...
Canvas, Oil
$2,080Sale Price|20% Off
Aurora Over a Northern Lake, Expressionist Oil on Canvas, Framed, 1916
Located in Stockholm, Stockholm
Aurora over a Northern Lake, signed and dated “G Claeson 1916”, oil on canvas. This evocative landscape, executed in an expressionist manner, and on the same time almost modern, cap...
Canvas, Oil
$2,400Sale Price|20% Off
Expectancy - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Abstraction, Floral, Women
By Olajide Kuti
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Ola...
Canvas, Acrylic
North West. Richard K Blades. Oil painting of the sea and sky Turner influence.
Located in Coltishall, GB
North West - a tumultuous seascape beneath a dramatic sky. Blades' textured brushstrokes that merge shades of deep indigo and soft pink, suggest an impending storm. The transition fr...
Oil, Board
$4,000Sale Price|20% Off
In The Stillness of Thoughts -21st Century, Expressionist Modern, Child, Balloon
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity (Issued by the Gal...
Canvas, Acrylic
$3,317
Large contemporary expressionist figurative still life painting "Floral pause"
Located in VÉNISSIEUX, FR
"Floral Pause" is a contemporary still life painting by French artist Natalya Mougenot, celebrated for her colorful floral art and expressive compositions that capture the simple poe...
Canvas, Acrylic, Linen
$680Sale Price|20% Off
African Woman 2 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, People, Black
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Bey...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
$680Sale Price|20% Off
African Woman 1 - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, People, Black
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Bey...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
$2,474
Shadow marshes. Richard K Blades. Painting of sea at sunset. Turner influence.
Located in Coltishall, GB
A warm sunset over Norfolk's Cromer beach. Between Thoughts is a sublime oil painting that captures the mesmerizing tranquility of a sunset over thw North Sea. The horizon is ablaze...
Oil, Board
Portrait of a Man - Early 20th Century Antique French Expressionist Oil Painting
Located in Sevenoaks, GB
A superb large early 20th century French expressionist oil on canvas depicting a seated man. Very similar to the work of Chaïm Soutine (1893-1943). Excellent quality depiction of th...
Oil, Canvas
$2,680Sale Price|20% Off
Aimasiko - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative, Portrait, Africa, Women
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Yoruba proverb says, "Adániwáyè ò gbagbé enikan; àimàsikò lóndààmú edá", meaning "The Creator does not forget anyone; ignorance of divine timing troubles humans". Difficult times may...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
On the same wave. Couple painting, love, blue, sea, man and a woman, fish, large
Located in Oslo, NO
A man and a woman float in gentle harmony, surrounded by flying fish moving through soft turquoise and deep blue. The scene is calm yet surreal, a space between dream and sea, presen...
Canvas, Oil
$2,680Sale Price|20% Off
Don't Rush Life 2 - 21st Century Contemporary Figurative, Portrait, Africa, Men
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Where am from Bandana was once a common style, we called it Big Boy Style, then it's seem to me like a style or fashion only, because our elder brothers only allowed to used it but n...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Portrait of a Lady - Antque French Expressionist Ecole de Paris Oil Painting
Located in Sevenoaks, GB
A beautiful early 20th century French expressionist Ecole de Paris oil on panel portrait of a standing lady wearing a yellow jacket and fur stole. This excellent quality depiction o...
Oil, Panel
$360Sale Price|20% Off
Gaze 1 - 21st Century Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Fashion
By Gobe Joseph
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Gob...
Canvas, Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic
Modernist Encaustic Painting Portrait Boston Expressionist
Located in Surfside, FL
Bears old label verso from Raydon Gallery in New York city. Aronson, David 1923- David Aronson, son of a rabbi, was born in Lithuania in 1923 and immigrated to America at the age of ...
Encaustic
$1,158Sale Price|40% Off
The Parade Ring at the Races, Gouache and Pastel, Signed, 1970s
By Maurice EMPI
Located in London, GB
'The Parade Ring at the Races', gouache and pastel on art paper, by Maurice Empi (circa 1970s). The Parade Ring, otherwise known as the paddock, is the pla...
Paper, Pastel, Gouache
$496Sale Price|60% Off
Sailors in Nice: Mixed Media Gouache and Pastel on Paper, 1950s
Located in London, GB
'Sailors in the Port of Nice', mixed media - gouache, pastel and oil on paper, by Alfred Salvignol (circa 1950s). The Port of Nice is one of the key hubs of Nice and, in fact, of the entire French Riviera, standing out as one of the main harbours for the boats which sail across the Mediterranean Sea. It accommodates both the ships operated by ferry companies and the private yachts of visitors who come to Nice by sea. The artist here depicts a group of crusty sailors watching...
Paper, Pastel, Oil, Gouache
"Pleasantries" (2025) Still Life of Fruit and Ceramic, Acrylic/Charcoal Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Leigh Ann Van Fossan's "Pleasantries" is a charming acrylic and charcoal painting, created on canvas, which depicts slices of mango resting on a plate Van Fossan was born in Vail, C...
Canvas, Charcoal, Acrylic
Bullfighting Scene Oil on Canvas, Expressionist, Circa 1960, Unframed
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Title: Bullfighting Scene Artist: José María Tuser Vázquez (1919-1986) Technique: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 16.1 x 13 inches (unframed) Date: c. 1950-1960 Condition: Good Provenance:...
Canvas, Oil
$2,132
Oil on canvas Expressionist “Cabins of French Brittany”, after Georges Laporte
Located in Valladolid, ES
Exceptional oil on canvas depicting a coastal landscape with small cabins and fishing boats characteristic of French Brittany, signed Ronald, an artist from the second half of the 20...
Canvas
$3,200Sale Price|20% Off
Aduke and Her Pets - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Abstraction, Animal
By Olajide Kuti
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Ola...
Canvas, Acrylic
Duality, Original Painting
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
The expressionist landscape painting depicts houses overlooking a pond in the northeastern United States. Inspired by the works of English painters Keith Vaugha...
Acrylic
Between Thoughts. Richard K Blades. Painting of sea at sunset. Turner influence.
Located in Coltishall, GB
A warm sunset over Norfolk's Cromer beach. Between Thoughts is a sublime oil painting that captures the mesmerizing tranquility of a sunset over thw North Sea. The horizon is ablaze...
Oil, Board
$790
Nature-Inspired Painting, Tropical Flora in Brown and Green, Modern Nature Forms
Located in Barcelona, ES
This painting explores an intimate and imaginative relationship with nature, transforming tropical flora into expressive, living forms. Rather than depicting a specific landscape, th...
Paper, Wax Crayon, Acrylic
Women and Children, Expressionist Oil on Canvas by Vega Cillero
Located in Sant Celoni, ES
"Women and Children, Expressionist Oil on Canvas by Vega Cillero." Oil on canvas. Signed lower right. Artwork: 81 × 101 cm (31.9 × 39.8 in.). Framed: 99 × 120 cm (39 × 47.2 in.). Th...
Canvas, Oil
Bearded Male Nude (Figurate Expressionist Nude Painting)
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Bearded Male Nude, ca. 1960's. Oil on illustration board. Measuring 13 x 20 inches. Unframed. Unsigned and unattribted.
Oil, Illustration Board
$450
Abstract Expressive woman's portrait acrylic on paper "What she holds within"
Located in VÉNISSIEUX, FR
This contemporary abstract expressionist woman's portrait "What she holds within "was created by the French artist Natalya Mougenot. With her hand gently resting against her chin and...
Paper, Acrylic
$360Sale Price|20% Off
Your Life's Matter 2 - 21st Century Contemporary Figurative, Portrait, Africa
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Eli...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
$600
"Abstract Overhead Parking Lot" (2005) Expressionist Cityscape, Oil Painting
Located in Denver, CO
"Subject matter to me is a vehicle for me to explore how I observe life. My urban influences are an assembly of varied fabrics stitched together to form a tapestry. It is not to re...
Oil, Panel
Mid-Century Modern Expressionist Still Life of Vibrant Flowers, Signed McKay
Located in San Francisco, CA
On offer is a mid-century modern, Expressionist floral still life painted in oil on canvas board, signed MacKay and dated '64. The painting belongs to the Expressionist/Modernist sti...
Canvas, Oil, Board
Amedee de La PATELLIERE, Eclipse with 4 Characters, 1928
Located in Saint Amans des cots, FR
Oil on canvas by Amedee de La PATELLIERE, France, 1928. Eclipse with four characters. With frame: 63x54 cm - 24.8x21.25 inches ; without frame: 41x33 cm - 16.15x13 inches. Format 6F....
Canvas, Oil
$360Sale Price|20% Off
Blue Testament 6 -21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Modern Africa
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Dan...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
Funfair - 1950's French Expressionist Mid Century Oil on Canvas Painting
By André Beaucé
Located in Sevenoaks, GB
A wonderful 1950's French expressionist oil on canvas depicting figures at a busy funfair, by Parisian artist André Beaucé. Excellent quality work painted with thick impasto brush work. Signed lower centre. Artist: André Beaucé (French, 1911-1974) Title: Funfair Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 25.5 x 21 inches (65 x 54 cm) André Beaucé was a French painter born on May 23, 1911 in Rennes and died on January 2, 1974 in Paris . A pupil of the School of Fine Arts in Rennes, a graduate of the National School of Decorative Arts where he was admitted in 1932, André Beaucé was a pupil in the workshops of André Lhote and Simon, with Yves Brayer . He won the Abd-el-Tif prize in 1946 and was a regular at the Salon d'Automne. After having lived for several years in Algeria, and in particular at Villa Abd El Tif where he was a scholarship holder from 1946 to 1948, André Beaucé returned to France in 1949 and resumed his teaching at the Schools of Paris. His painting is then powerfully expressionist, free from any system. In the 1950s, we notice vigorous, uncompromising, intense portraits, captured in an almost caricatural way. The tones, always very mounted, are opposed with force in a composition cut with vigor. After the dark years of the war, Beaucé’s art reflects a violent vision of a certain reality that is always brutal and yet magnificent. Exhibitions Paris, 1936 to 1945, Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts . Tunis, 1946, Exhibition of French Africa. Algiers, 1947, Abd-el-Tif. Paris, 1948, Letourneur gallery. Paris, from 1950 to 1960, Salon d'Automne and Salon Comparaisons . Paris, 1962, Roy's gallery. Paris, May 1963, Exhibition organized on the occasion of the Estates General on Disarmament , Cercle Volney. First Salon Biarritz - San Sebastian: School of Paris - Painting, sculpture: André Beauce, Georges-André Klein , Adrienne Jouclard , Jean Joyet , Robert Lotiron , Roland Bierge , Andrée Bordeaux-Le Pecq , Henri Hayden , Franck Innocent , Germaine Lacaze...
Canvas, Oil
$556
"Red blooms" Contemporary expressionist still life floral acrylic painting
Located in VÉNISSIEUX, FR
Original Contemporary Floral Still Life Painting, 29.7 × 42 cm (11.7 × 16.5 inches), Acrylic Paint and Acrylic Pen on Heavyweight Professional Acid-Free Paper, Varnished, by French A...
Paper, Acrylic
$1,550
Still Life With Oil Lamp in a Room Interior, Expressionistic Oil on Canvas
Located in Stockholm, Stockholm
Expressionistic still life with oil lamp in a room interior, signed by Arne Roland Anderson (1915-1982) and probably painted in 1938. Oil on canvas. Signed a.r.a. lower left. Accordi...
Canvas, Oil
$1,580
Poppies and Wildflowers, Figurative Triptych, Large Botanical Landscape on Paper
Located in Barcelona, ES
This original painting by Romina Milano presents a lyrical field of poppies and wildflowers, where gestural brushwork and simplified forms create a vivid, contemporary botanical comp...
Acrylic, Watercolor, Handmade Paper
$2,200Sale Price|20% Off
Hope Not Lost - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Abstraction, Balloon
By Olajide Kuti
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Ola...
Canvas, Acrylic
Empathy. Kind, sympathy, hugs, semi abstract, warm colors, psychology, emotional
Located in Oslo, NO
Three beings merge in a silent embrace -a white animal, a blue woman with flowers in her hair, and another blue figure resting against her. Their bodies glow with orange and yellow w...
Canvas, Oil
Villiers le Bel
Located in Paris, FR
PRESSEMANE Joseph 'Villiers le Bel'. Oil on board. Signed. 47 x 21 cm. Titled and signed on the back. Biography Born Jozef Presman in 1904 in Berestechko, Ukraine, he studied at th...
Oil
$3,164
Eventide by Richard K Blades. Oil painting of the sea at sunset after a storm.
Located in Coltishall, GB
Richard K Blades is an expressive landscape painter working in the English Romantic tradition. He follows in a long line of artists such as Turner, Constable, Seago, Daubigney and C...
Oil, Board
Night at the Fair Oil on Board, Mid-Century Modernist Scene
Located in Genève, GE
Dimension with frame : 43,8 x 58,8 x 3,4 cm. Signed "A. Carducci" in the lower right corner. This oil on board depicts a lively evening promenade at a brightly illuminated fairgroun...
Oil, Cardboard
"Sarabono" (2009) by Jann T. Bass, Original Oil Painting of Landscape
Located in Denver, CO
"Sarabono" (2009) by Jann T. Bass is an original handmade oil painting that depicts a colorful flowery landscape. This painting measures 12 x 14 inches and is ready to hang.
Oil, Board
$2,640Sale Price|70% Off
French Expressionism "A Vase of Flowers" Gen Paul (French, 1895-1975)
By Gen Paul
Located in SANTA FE, NM
"A Vase of Flowers" Eugene Paul aka Gen Paul (French, 1895-1975) Oil crayon on paper 20 1/2 x 14 (28 x 21 1/2 frame) inches "Gen Paul is undoubtedly the greatest representative, and...
Paper, Oil Crayon
$1,400Sale Price|20% Off
Togetherness - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Abstraction, Africa, Love
By Olajide Kuti
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
Shipping Procedure Ships in a well-protected tube from Nigeria This work is unique, not a print or other type of copy. Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. About Artist Ola...
Canvas, Acrylic
A Set of Circus Paintings
Located in San Francisco, CA
There’s the balloon vendor, confident, straightforward and approaching the viewer to make his sale. But there’s also a shadow figure, boldly executed, perhaps a glimpse of the inner ...
Canvas, Oil
Hoopoe Bird Oil Painting on Canvas, Expressionist Style, Unframed
By Elena Lukina
Located in Zofingen, AG
"Hoopoe: The Crowned Messenger" is a definitive masterpiece by Elena Lukina, capturing the regal and ancient essence of one of nature’s most enigmatic archetypes. Part of the artist’...
Canvas, Oil, Cardboard
$520Sale Price|27% Off
Purple Tulips, Abstract Expressionist Blooming Flowers, Vigorous Gestures, Flora
Located in Barcelona, ES
"Purple Tulips" is an abstract expressionist painting by Romina Milano where a dance of black gestures unfolds across colorful brushstrokes infused with ...
Ink, Acrylic, Watercolor, Handmade Paper