Editing Expressionism (section)

=== In Germany and Austria ===<!--According to [[Marilyn Stokstad]], the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Art history|art historian]]:
:"Expressionism (is) the manipulation of formal or representational elements to convey intense feelings."<ref>Marilyn Stokstad, [http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/oclc/42451028&referer=brief_results ''Art History, Volume II,''] Revised edition. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall ©1999.) ISBN 0-13-082872-6, ISBN 978-0-13-082872-9 p.1025</ref></!-->
{{redirect|German Expressionism|the film genre|German expressionist cinema}}
[[File:Franz Marc 020.jpg|thumb|[[Franz Marc]], ''Rehe im Walde'' (''Deer in Woods''), 1914|left]]The style originated principally in Germany and Austria. There were groups of expressionist painters, including [[Der Blaue Reiter]] and [[Die Brücke]]. Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider, named after a painting) was based in Munich and Die Brücke (The Bridge) was originally based in [[Dresden]] (some members moved to [[Berlin]]). Die Brücke was active for a longer period than Der Blaue Reiter, which was only together for a year (1912). The Expressionists were influenced by artists and sources including Edvard Munch, Vincent van Gogh and [[African art]].<ref>[[Ian Buruma]], "Desire in Berlin", ''New York Review of Books'', December 8, 2008, p. 19.</ref> They were also aware of the work being done by the [[Fauvism|Fauves]] in Paris, who influenced Expressionism's tendency toward arbitrary colours and jarring compositions. In reaction and opposition to French Impressionism, which emphasized the rendering of the visual appearance of objects, Expressionist artists sought to portray emotions and subjective interpretations. It was not important to reproduce an aesthetically pleasing impression of the artistic subject matter, they felt, but rather to represent vivid emotional reactions by powerful colours and dynamic compositions. Kandinsky, the main artist of ''Der Blaue Reiter'', believed that with simple colours and shapes the spectator could perceive the moods and feelings in the paintings, a theory that encouraged him towards increased abstraction.<ref name="EHGombrich" />