Through their art, German and Austrian Expressionists expressed their conflicted views of urban life.
AUDIO: Curator Starr Figura describes Berlin during the Expressionist period, AUDIO: Curator Starr Figura discusses Kirchnerâs Street, Berlin (1913), "Expressionism and City Life" PowerPoint Slideshow (.ppt).
Find more prominent pieces of genre painting at Wikiart.org – best visual art database. Encompasses varying stylistic approaches that emphasize intense personal expression. ‘Street, Berlin’ was created in 1913 by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in Expressionism style. 47 1/2 x 35 7/8" (120.6 x 91.1 cm). Ernst Kirchner, Street, Berlin, 1913 German Expressionism If the painting’s backdrop muffles its music, its placement at the end of two walls filled with portraits and drawings by other Berlin artists of the era is … For the German Expressionists, nature was an arena for healing and freedom. Expressionist portraits reveal more than just what people look like.
At this time, Kirchner painted several different street scenes that illustrated the chaos of city life and the relationship between men and women. They were disgusted by the materialistic lifestyle of the middle class in Germanyâs big cities, but they enjoyed the bustling excitement and activity of urban life. Amid the destruction of World War I, German and Austrian Expressionists responded to the anxiety of modern life. After World War I, artists began to see the city as an extension of the battlefield as they struggled with the ravaging effects of war on their collective psyche and on the country’s economy and people. Many members of the Expressionist movement were conflicted about life in the city. https://www.khanacademy.org/.../expressionism1/v/kirchner-street-berlin Early Expressionist street scenes are filled with depictions of nightclubs and wealthy theater-goers as well as scenes of loneliness and isolation. A setting for or a part of a story or narrative. As Expressionism evolved from the beginning of the 20th century through the early 1920s, its crucial themes and genres reflected deeply humanistic concerns and an ambivalent attitude toward modernity, eventually confronting the devastating experience of World War I and its aftermath.
After World War I, artists began to see the city as an extension of the battlefield as they struggled with the ravaging effects of war on their collective psyche and on the countryâs economy and people.
Street, Berlin is an oil painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner painted in 1913 before the outbreak of World War 1. Renouncing the stiff bourgeois social values that prevailed at the turn of the 20th century, and rejecting the traditions of the state-sponsored art academies, Expressionist artists turned to boldly simplified or distorted forms and exaggerated, sometimes clashing colors. Kirchner was enthralled by what he called “the symphony of the great city,” and responded to the intensity of the street life he found in Berlin by recording the urban spectacle around him. Purchase. 274.1939. To explore more, click on each artwork thumbnail, then click again on the larger image that appears in the box above. Early Expressionist street scenes are filled with depictions of nightclubs and wealthy theater-goers as well as scenes of loneliness and isolation. Painting and Sculpture In 2006, this landmark of German Expressionism, Street Scene in Berlin was restituted to the heirs of its original owners who had to sell the painting in the 1930s under duress due to … 1913.
Street, Berlin. Oil on canvas.