Expressionism

Expressionism represents the world from a subjective perspective. These types of paintings are expressing the emotions and feelings of the artist and allow the viewer to interpret those emotions when analyzing the paintings. The viewers’ interpretations of the pieces will vary slightly or considerably as people have the freedom to form their own judgments. Expressionism is subjective, it distorts reality’s objective truth. This form of art expresses the influence, effect, and impact of a moment in time, a scene or an object to the artist. 

No. 5 1948, Jackson Pollock 1950

Jackson Pollock was an American painter, he was part of the expressionist movement and integrated an abstract art style with his expressionist form of art. He was known for his “drip painting” and inspired a new style of art which is very freeing of the soul. He struggled with alcohol addiction and died in a car accident while driving under the influence. I love and am inspired by his artistic expressions

Through troubled and unsettled brushstrokes and aggressive techniques in this piece (as well as in many others, as this is Pollock’s own painting style) he expresses an explosion of emotions. This painting is very unique and creative. It is undisciplined as there is no subject, nothing to prefer over anything else in the painting, you just have to admire the piece as a whole. Having no specific object, natural scene, or figure makes this painting timeless because it just can’t be diminished by new styles. I think there’s a ton of dark emotions imitated by the dark colors underneath. The brighter colors to me represent sparks of joy within a troubled life. The swirls of color are representative of twisted, disordered and continuous emotions. This style of painting is very liberating, I actually practiced it before in an art class. It represents nihilism in that it departs from social norms and traditional forms of painting. Also because this painting is aggressive and it’s a burst of emotions represented by a figure that means nothing at all; it has no real shape or logical definition.

Davos und Snow, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner 1923

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a German expressionist painter. He studied architecture but always had a love for art. He served in the military during WWI and was left with psychological and emotional damage that was too much to cope with and lead him to commit suicide. 

This painting is full of snow however it reflects a feeling of romance with the colors chosen by the artist and the lodge or town being so hidden and centered gives this feeling of coziness and security. I think the artist was thinking of a romantic moonlit night away from a hectic place into a tranquil little town in the middle of nowhere. Although the actual moon is not in the scene it’s the star of the show, the main character, as it gives life and meaning to the painting. The light reflecting from the moon translates a sense of tranquility and peacefulness. I like the way the artist plays with colors. The colors in this piece are not the traditional representative colors of the objects in the painting as we know them. The clouds are yellowish-green, the mountains have pink light reflecting over the blue snow, and the field of pine trees in the distance are somewhat of a dark purple. This painting embodies nihilism though the unidealistic choices of colors in a place not well defined. There’s no specific indication of the culture, you can fill that information in yourself which is what started nihilism; the loss of traditional morals and values, nihilism started a cultural change, people started to construct their own truths.

Impressions Sunrise, Claude Monet 1872

Claude Monet was a French painter, known to have started the impressionist movement. He was very interested in the form of light in his paintings. He is one of the most famous painters of all time. He served in the military for about two years, he was discontinued for health reasons as he suffered from depression. After that he focused on creating art and painted some of the world’s best known pieces 

This painting is very poetic. It’s a foggy morning, the sun is out just enough to cause a reflection on the water which travels across the ocean’s surface without interrupting the misty morning. By rising before the rest, the two figures in the rowboat traveling through the fog calmly and patiently get to appreciate and enjoy the stillness of world and the beauty of the serenity that not many get to experience. This piece reminds me of an early morning in the town my grandmother lived in, in Dominican Republic. Years ago when the population in that area was small and humble and the mornings were foggy, my grandmother used to wake up at 4am and appreciate the undisturbed scenery. Nihilism is a sense of nothingness and this Monet exhibits a motionless place that seems soundless and undisturbed but the background is also very disturbing and a bit unsettling.