Expressionism

• These artists look within at emotional and psychological states for subject matter.

• They distort and exaggerate form and colour for emotional effect.

• A major influence was the “primitive” art of African tribes, south sea island cultures, and pre-Colombian America.

• Artists often use of intense colour, agitated brushstrokes, and disjointed space.

Munch• Norwegian born pioneer of

expressionism• His art is influenced by early

experiences with sickness and death (they become themes).

• His mother and sister died of tuberculosis when he was young.

• His work contains deeply personal subject matter, but he reveals everything to the viewer.

• He lived and painted into his 80’s.

Psychoanalysis

• Munch emerged at a time when Sigmund Freud was developing his theories.

• Psychoanalysis – a theory of mental illness, and a type of therapy. It was developed to treat patients suffering from severe hysteria, anxiety, etc.

• Munch’s themes often seem like a classic example of the problems Freud was dealing with.

• Freud explained much human behavior by relating it to childhood experiences.

• Munch explores the human condition as subject matter.

• He draws on his own life experiences of sexuality, death, and various psychological experiences.

• The paintings contain a sense of drama and mystery.

• He is one of the pioneers of Expressionism, his work contains undulating line, flat areas of bold colour, painterly brushwork, and naturalism.

The Scream1893

Subject• An anxiety attack• It is full of immanent

tragedy.• Question - What is

the fright caused by? Something behind? in water? ahead?

• He creates a psychological drama.

Pathetic Fallacy • The landscape seems

to share the anguish of the figure.

• The external event & artist’s internal state of mind fuse.

Form • The distorted, scull like, screaming death head was

influenced by a Peruvian mummy.• The body distortions make it liquid, or worm like.

Line • A linear pattern radiates

from head like sound wave made visible.

• Lines undulate and create movement.

Tension is created through contrast of strait (diagonal) & curving lines.

Colour• Bruise colours (dark greens and blues), & blood red

The Cry 1893• Munch often

reworked many of his motifs in the form of prints.

• Many of these works were made using the lithographic process also popular with Lautrec.

• The linear quality was influenced by designs on pre-Colombian pottery.

Lithography

Lithography

Death in the Sickroom 1895

"In the same chair as I painted the sick one, I and all my dear ones from my mother on have been sitting winter after winter longing for the sun--until death took them away--I and all my dear ones from my father on have paced up and down the floor in anxiety."

Munch

Death in the Sickroom 1895

• The subject is autobiographical.

• The scene is reflects his childhood experiences with grief & death in his family.

• His sister died at a young age of tuberculosis.

• His other sister suffered from mental illness.

Death in the Sickroom 1895

• Emphasis is on grieving relatives

• There is no interaction; each person seems lost in their own lonely thoughts.

• Perspective is distorted making the room look larger.

• Pale greens and oranges in the room & the pale skin tones emphasize the mood.

The Voice 1893

• The subject requires the viewers interpretation.• The title requires the viewer to piece together clues.• What is the voice? Why is she leaning forward? Who is

she looking at?

• The Figure is confined by verticals (trees) with her hands behind back

• She leans forward as if to speak• She seems awkward, & separated from others• The figure is thin, ghost like, & without substance

• Complementary colours are used • Brushstrokes are visible and energetic/agitated.

The Storm 1893

• The viewer left to imagine what is happening.• The foreground figure wanders off from the mysterious

crowd. Why?• The figures have left comfort of their homes in a storm.

Why?

• The Figures are distorted as in The Scream.• They are faceless & anonymous.

• The painting contains a lot of contrast• Complementary colours are used.• Paint is applied as a stain. Impasto is also used.