Expressionism refers to a trend of thought that emphasizes the expression of artists' subjective feelings and self-feelings, leading to exaggeration, deformation and even grotesque treatment of objective forms. It is a particularly popular artistic trend of thought in the Nordic countries at the beginning of the 20th century, and it is a reflection of social and cultural crisis and mental confusion, which is particularly prominent and strong in the era of social unrest.

In the traditional art of Nordic countries, expressionism has long existed: in the works of early Germanic barbarian art, medieval Gothic art, Renaissance Potts, Bruegel and other painters, distorted and exaggerated images and absurd picture artistic effects can be seen, all of which show a strong expressionist tendency.

At the end of 19, the first expressionist movement appeared, which mixed the influence of symbolism and modern style. Vanguard painters include Van Gogh in the Netherlands, Lautreck in France, Klimt in Austria, Hodler in Switzerland and Monk in Norway. They express their subjectivism through some themes of love and tragedy.

The main base of expressionism in the 20th century is Germany, which is determined by the social reality in Germany and influenced by Nietzsche's subjective idealism philosophy, Freud's psychoanalysis theory and Steiner's mysticism.

German expressionism

German expressionism is mainly composed of two groups: the Bridge Club in Dresden (North Germany) and the Young Knight Club in Munich (South Germany).

Qiaoshe was founded in 1905. Its founders are Karhi and Heickell, followed by Nold and Pestan. Karhi said in a declaration: "Everyone, everyone who belongs to us, directly and without hypocrisy shows what drives them to create." They appreciate the works of Van Gogh and Gauguin, hold a positive attitude towards Monk and a pious attitude towards primitive art, but each of them absorbs what they need from different angles. They always describe the changing world in nature and cities with melancholy, emptiness and puppet-like expressions. The stylistic exploration of "Bridge Society" has a strong emotional color. In form, smooth, relaxed, free and soft lines are used at first, then gradually tend to be tense, tortuous and oblique, and finally become short and hard, which is just a general painting style.

Another expressionist group, the Green Knight, is active in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, South Germany. Its members include Ma Erkai and Klee. The loose geometric structure based on internal cubism and his bold absorption of color optics greatly inspired the members of "Green Knight", who regarded him as the founder of "modern art". The purpose of the Young Knights is the same as that of the Bridge Club, but the expression language mostly adopts lyric abstract language. They are more interested in the invisible inner spirit than any visible external world, hoping to give this inner spirit a visible shape and color, so as to integrate art with profound spiritual content. Mainly in Kandinsky's art.

Expressionism has distinct theoretical propositions and aesthetic characteristics. Firstly, the slogan that art is "not reality, but spirit" and "expression, not reproduction" is put forward. Expressionist writers pay attention to the expression of subjective feelings of the world, especially the inner vision, strongly advocate the expression of inner experience and spiritual passion, and oppose the simple imitation of impressionism-naturalism and the objective reproduction of the external world through taking pictures. Expressionism rejects superficial and false truth and demands more truth than what is seen in daily vision. Cezanne once praised Manet: "It's just an eye-but what a powerful eye it is!" Because people at that time thought that the painter took the most authentic sensory impression at the moment of a glance, and this impression that was not filtered and defiled by the mind was the most real existence. But expressionist Friedrich warned: "Close your eyes!" Because only by closing your eyes and opening the window of your mind can you expose the things in the dark box of your mind to the daylight. They believe that people with discerning eyes only see superficial phenomena and false things, and only those that stimulate and shock the spiritual world are real existence. Therefore, expressionist artists strongly oppose the aesthetic principle of impressionism-naturalism, and advocate breaking through the external physical representation and expressing the internal spiritual essence; It advocates breaking through the pure objective description and turning to the expression of subjective feelings. In the Manifesto of Munich New Artists Association from 65438 to 0906, they initially expounded their own artistic views: "An artist should not only have his own impression of the external world, but also accumulate feelings of the inner world." Later, Kandinsky further clearly pointed out in On the Spirit of Art: "A painter is a creator, and he no longer takes imitating natural phenomena as his purpose. He thinks that he should pursue the expression of his inner world. " The inner world has become the focus of expressionists' attention, and even the meaning of "lines and forms" exists in the meaning of life it shows us. It can only contain its beauty through the feelings of our ellipsis, and we inject this emotion into it in some magical way. "(Wallinger's Abstraction and Empathy) Expressionism takes excavating inner feelings and expressing subjective passion as its creative theme. Their works are often permeated with a kind of emotion full of anxiety, contradiction, loneliness and fear, which is highlighted by the loss and fear of war. They claimed: "The world exists, and it is meaningless to just copy it." "The human heart is closely related to everything, and the human heart, like the world, is beating in the same beat. Therefore, it is required to reshape the art world. This will create a brand-new portrait of the world. This portrait has nothing in common with the naturalistic image that can be grasped by experience, nor with the narrow scope of Impressionism. This image must be simple and true, so it is also beautiful. " (Karl Edschmidt's On Expressionism in Literary Creation) This brand-new portrait of the world is created, not copied, which shows the subjective feelings of the outside world in the depths of human hearts and shows the restless and complicated feelings of human beings in a subtle way. It is believed that artists are creators driven by their inner needs, and they just want to express their subjective passion. Kandinsky said that an artist "should keep his eyes open, pay close attention to his inner life, and his ears should always listen to his inner needs ... An artist should not only deal with forms in any way necessary for his purpose, but also do so". He also believes that "beauty comes from inner needs, and beauty is the kind of inner beauty." Expressionism expresses life through subjective hallucinations, dreams, hallucinations and distortions. Most expressionist artists experienced great changes and profound crises in modern western society at the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century. Pervasive social alienation and depravity make them feel spiritual depression and inner panic all the time, just like living in a nightmare, full of depression and loneliness. They often indulge in boring fantasies and seek comfort in life in hallucinations and dreams. At the same time, the subjective feelings and inner truth advocated by expressionism, and the inexplicable fear and disaster in modern people's subconscious will naturally become hallucinations and dreams. Ed Schmidt, an expressionist theorist, said: "Illusion has become the whole territory of expressionist artists. He doesn't look, he observes; He doesn't describe, he experiences: he doesn't copy, he shapes; He doesn't pick up, he explores.