Room 1500
Modern and Contemporary Art
Art in Germany Between the Wars
In the first decades of the 20th century, artists in Germany known as “expressionists” believed that they could achieve a kind of spiritual reawakening by breaking free of the official, academic traditions and societal conventions of the German Empire (1871–1918). Expressionist painting is synonymous with thick brushstrokes, distorted forms, and especially, with vibrant, non-naturalistic color, derived in some cases from artists’ exploration of complex color theory. Two major groups are typically associated with the movement: Brücke (Bridge, 1905–13) in Dresden and Berlin and the Munich-based Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider, 1911–13). Though both dissolved before 1914, major representatives continued to work well into the mid-20th century, alongside emerging artists.After World War I (1914–18), the increasing institutionalization ofexpressionism and its general popularity caused artists and critics to doubt the movement’s potency. Even previous supporters of the style characterized its former “agitated revelations” as having degraded to “peaceful wall decorations,” ultimately declaring it “dead” by 1920. The decade that followed was thus largely marked by tendencies both originating in and polemically posited against expressionism, as seen here in the work of Max Beckmann and Ernst Thoms. Such painting became known under the rubric Neue Sachlichkeit (typically translated as NewObjectivity), often emphasizing a veristic, critical approach.