Expressionism, an artistic movement in which pictorial imagery is depicted through dramatically expressive colors and brushwork, digresses from traditional representation in which artists attempted to recreate a likeness of reality; instead, the movement gives form to artists’ individual perceptions, feelings, and psychologies. Expressionists discovered new artistic possibilities through the first modern masters. They recognized expressive gesture and color in Van Gogh, nascent abstraction in Cézanne, and a new approach to the decorative in Gauguin and Matisse.
Expressionism in Germany and France: From Van Gogh to Kandinsky was on view in fall 2014 at LACMA, Resnick Pavilion.