The Expression behind Expressionism

Like I have mentioned before I used to study art. One of my favourite genres of Art has always been Expressionism.

I think art is one of the most pure ways to express yourself and like everything art has a number of different areas.I would consider expressionism one of the greatest art movements of our time, not only in art but in dance music and literature.

There is a certain vagueness and open endness about the term expressionism it can be understood on a Varity of different Levels and has eluded all attempts to give a precise definition. Expressionism was a very short period and was not limited to fine art. What these artists depicted was a simple organic symbiosis based on the rhythm of nature. If you not familiar with expressionism below is a collage of the work of one famous artist Salvador Dalí.

Another artist I love is Arshile Gorky. He once said the following about his work

 ‘’I like the heat the tenderness the edible the lusciousness the song of a single person the bathtub full of water to bathe myself beneath the water… I like the wheatfields the plough the apricots those flirts of the sun.  But bread above all.”

I love this! The very words bring his work to life, you can taste the passion in these words. This quote leads me to draw up assumptions of what expressionism is, it is feelings and emotions put to paper. It’s the human mind drawn.

One of my favorite expressionist works was “The Scream” by Edvard Munch.

I wanted so badly to capture this emotion in my work. Below are some of pieces inspired by expressionist work, its quite clear they will never macth up to the greats like Edvard Munch and Henri De Toulouse but its good to try.