Exhbition: German expressionism

Erick Heckel, Seaside landscape 1922

In the years before and after WWI the world was changing and things people hold for  secure were no longer true. 

On one hand people had an optimistic view of the future, but on the other hand it was very clear that industrialization also brought misery to many people. The philosopher Nietzsche declared that God was dead and many were searching for a new way to give meaning to life.

The painters in Germany wanted to go into a different direction and focused on the inner-life of people. Nature and ‘primitive’ cultures were their inspiration. They used bright colours and wanted to paint not the outside, but to go deeper.

Emil Nolde, Flowergarden with blue fence 1919

In 1905 a group in Dresden formed the artists-collective Brücke (the bridge)

and a few years later a group in Munich followed with Der Blaue Reiter. Artists like Kirchner, Max Pechstein, Kandinsky and Alexej von Jawlensky inspired eachother and of course artists in other countries. 

Karl Schmidt Rottluff, The red house, 1923

Last Saturday a friend and I visited an exhibition about these artist in museum De Fundatie in Zwolle. The exhibition The wild, expressionism of  Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter is quite substantial and divers. I liked how they grouped the paintings into different themes, so you could see how different artists used that subject. 

Erich Heckel, The Flemish field 1916

The bright colors and powerful way of painting made a lot of impact, and although I did not like each painting, I did find all of them interesting. And sometimes there were some great details (as I found with my obsession to spot cats everywhere) 

Heinrich Campendonck, The sixth day, 1914

In short, an exhibition well worth a visit and where you can see many beautiful paintings.

The exhibition is open until September 18^th 2016. 

At the exhibition
Max Pechstein, Nude

In Groningen is the other part of this exhibition, and that covers the neo-expressionists of the eighties. This was is open until October 23^rd  2016.