German Expressionism

German Expressionism was a multi-faceted art movement in the early 20th century, characterized by deeply emotive paintings, distorted figures, and gestural brushstrokes. In 1906, the bohemian artist’s group Die Brücke (or “The Bridge”) emerged in Dresden, as artists like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Emil Nolde advocated for complete freedom in personal expression. “Whoever renders directly and authentically that which impels him to create is one of us,” stated Die Brücke’s manifesto. In 1911, a similar group Der Blau Reiter (or “The Blue Rider”) formed in Munich, which included painters like Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Gabriele Münter, and Paul Klee who pushed expressionism further into abstraction. After World War I, the utopian and spiritual elements of the Die Brücke and Der Blau Reiter groups gave way to more politically-charged, satirical expressions, embodied by the paintings of Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz, and other artists in the like Neue Sachlichkeit (or “New Objectivity”) movement. Across these different factions, many German Expressionists shared a devotion to woodcut printmaking, drawn to the technique for its rigid, emotive lines and rich heritage in German art history. The auction market for German Expressionism is led by Beckman’s Bird’s Hell (1937–38) for $45 million, Kandinsky’s Painting with White Lines (1913) for $41 million, and Kirchner’s Berliner Straßenszene for $38 million.