What is Expressionism?

The word "expressionism" relates to an artist creating a work that expresses his state of mind, beliefs, or ideals. Generally, expressionist works are distorted or unrealistic because they are meant to express an idea rather than an object. In other words, the artist is moved to share their thoughts with others by way of some medium. The goal of the expressionist is to evoke an emotion in the viewer and cause them to think, consider, or ponder the mindset the artist was trying to convey.

Just after the first World War, expressionist themes took Germany by storm. The movement itself stretched over all of the cultural and artistic communities, however it is film industry that made it known to the world and preserved it for history. The expressionist movement in Germany drew directly from the cultural mindset of the times, and from previous expressionist movements. In fact, the German Expressionist movement embodied many of the ideals of other Expressionist movements that are most clearly seen in the architecture and lighting choices employed in the films. As far as expressionism in the German film industry goes, expressionism was defined by:

• Exemplifying "Anti-heroic" characters that dominate the plot
• Involving mental instability, especially among the main characters
  
• Being told from an unreliable or limited point of view
• Having a vast urban jungle complete with a criminal underworld
  
• Containing odd architecture, camera angles, scenes, and lighting

Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer (writers), Robert Wiene (director), Das Cabinent des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) / 1920

Expressionist films had an almost non-realistic feel to them, in part because the plots were almost unbelievable, but even more because they made use of extremely odd set design. Generally this was in part due to the low budget nature of the films, but the directors also employed the odd angles, strange orientations, and confusing layouts as tools to enhance the mysterious and dark nature of the films.

The picture to the right is from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It clearly shows the strange set design, as well as hinting at some of the other odd aspects of the film.

The expressionist movement took place in Germany in the time between the two World Wars, which also happened to be the transitional period from silent to talking films. However, most of the classical German Expressionist films were silent, and only included orchestral music. In addition, being limited to black and white, the expressionist artists had to utilize design and lighting in favor of color, leading to the overcompensation that is so well known and exemplified in the still from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Read Full...

Beginnings of German Expressionism

Expressionism, although encompassed all of Europe before the outbreak of the war, specifically refers to the post World War I artistic movement in Germany in the early 1920s. More appropriately coined “German” Expressionism emphasized subjectivity and spontaneity of emotions, radically different from the objectivity of Realism, and often characterized with alteration of reality by distortion, vivid colors, and exaggerated lines. The styles of expressionism were forefathers of the development of modernism, yet their principles were anti-modernist: the city was depicted as dangerous and sinful, and for Germany as a response to the war, was anti-fascist, anti-Aryan, and anti-naturalism.

Nolde, Emil. The Three Kings. 1913.	Murillo, Bartolomé Esteban. Adoration of the Wise Men. Circa 1650.

The “discontent” that triggered German Expressionism already began to boil the early 20th century, before the world war, the “1910 Generation” as Wolfgang Rothe writes:

…were angered and repelled by the all too contradictory aspects of feudal aristocracy, economic expansionism and unquestioning belief in scientific progress, regression into ultra-nationalism and a deluded sense of global mission, inner consolidation of the young Reich with its aspirations to world power, the sanctification of the status quo entailed in "education and property," and hectic industrialization's disruptive impact on established social structures.

Post-war, the “discontent” fired into full hostility against such “deluded sense” and pushed art to what the generation would consider “true reality,” depicting the world as it is: dark and violent, of death and decay.

We associate the influences of German Expressionism most notably with the cinema, specifically what the French film critics termed “Film Noir.” However, the German film industry did not share in the early development of the movement. It was only until the World War had escalated that the industry could easily capitalize on those feelings of anger and repulsion. However, due to the great post-war economic depression, film budgets were minimal, resulting with filmmakers using symbolic and stylized scenarios and clever manipulation of lights to create mood.

With the rise of the Nazis, the anti-fascist quality of expressionist films were censored, and filmmakers were forced to flee Germany to the United States, where they mark the beginnings of Film Noir in America. Read Full...

Examples of Expressionism

The following is the entirety of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which was one of the first and greatest of the German Expressionist films, directed by Robert Wiene. It is a silent film, as many of the early expressionist films were. For a good excerpt, start at 20:24.


Metropolis by Fritz Lang was the one of the most expensive productions done during the German Expressionist period. It represents almost the opposite end of the spectrum from Dr. Caligari, but it still incorporates the same basic elements of the expressionist film. The following is a restored trailer.


We decided to make our own (slightly humorous) short movie in the German Expressionist style. See if you can pick out some familiar characteristics and markers of Expressionism.
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Influences of German Expressionism

Fritz Lang, Thea von Harbou, Paul Falkenberg, Adolf Jansen (writers), Fritz Lang (director), M / 1931

After German expressionism’s migration to Hollywood, the world of film in the United States was altered permanently and dramatically. Following the “Golden Years” of German cinema and the oncoming of the Nazi political party, silent films such as Metropolis, Nosferatu, and Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, and continuing with the advent of sound after 1929—Der blaue Engel, Die Drei von der Tankstelle, M—German film became a model for a distinctive technique and style of filmmaking. With the appeal of higher budgets, better economy, and greater opportunities, many directors such as Ernst Lubitsch(Carmen) and Billy Wilder(Double Indemmity) transferred to Hollywood bringing their light and sound techniques, storytelling, and set design. Hollywood transformed from still lighting and dreary settings to the cutting-edge of light and shadow into film noir. Besides the styles that came with the new immigrants, their look into the criminal world and the lifestyle of evil doers and the people who apprehend them brought a violent turn around to American film plot. One Austrian born director who stands atop the rest in this specific influence is Fritz Lang. Lang brought the dark vision of criminality and the paranoid mentality of his Expressionistic classics, Dr Mabuse, the Gambler, and M to Hollywood and became one of the most prolific directors of the noir genre. American director’s sometimes took this dark side ideal and turned them around writing stories about detectives and private investigators that catch the criminals.

Along with directors came an influx of German and Austrian actors and actresses to be guided by their countrymen in Hollywood. Many of these performers were given similar roles they portrayed in their homeland. One in particular is the classic early 20th century femme fatale, Marlene Dietrich. Beginning in 1930, with her revolutionary representation of the sultry femme fatale in The Blue Angel (Der blaue Engel), Dietrich’s film career spanned more than half a century from the earliest days of talking pictures into the age of Technicolor and Cinemascope, and she wasn’t the only lasting influence. To this day German directors such as Roland Emmerich(Independence Day) and Wolfgang Petersen(In the Line of Fire) still journey to Hollywood and alter the cinematic world. Read Full...