The catalog accompanies the exhibition of the same name at the Märkisches Museum Witten, which is showing its extensive collection of Expressionist artworks and contemporary movements for the first time in a large, coherent presentation. Around 150 paintings, watercolors, drawings and prints from the museum's depot illustrate the diverse work of artists from 1900 to the beginning of the Second World War.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Expressionism not only had a decisive influence on the visual arts, but also on other genres such as literature, music, film, theater and dance in Germany. What we take for granted today as high art, the avant-garde innovations in the style of expression, the use of color and surface, the radical subjectivity and reproduction of psychological feelings and realities of life, was initially rejected by the general public, like many other innovations. However, this art movement quickly established itself, found its supporters and found its way into exhibitions and museums. With their works, the artists give us an insight into their time and what inspired them to create and reflect: in addition to the traumatic experiences of the First World War, the social upheavals caused by industrialization in the big cities and the economic crises, which often led to misery and poverty, there is also a particular longing for alternative ways of life in harmony with nature and the psychological exploration of human existence.

The style was shaped by two groups of artists and their protagonists: “Die Brücke,” founded in Dresden in 1905, and “Der Blaue Reiter,” founded in Munich in 1912. But artists beyond these groups, for example in Westphalia and the Rhineland, also explored expressionist art and developed their own perspectives. The second generation of Expressionism, from the 1920s onwards, also increasingly explored socially critical themes and is often subsumed under the term “New Objectivity.”

The Nazi regime's seizure of power in 1933 and its politically instrumentalized cultural policy, which defamed first- and second-generation Expressionist art in particular as “degenerate,” represents a deep and almost insurmountable turning point in history. However, the influence of Expressionism did not end with this caesura, but was taken as a starting point by many artists after the end of the Second World War to reconnect with international, contemporary art.

Many themes of Expressionism - such as the visibility of poverty in the big city, the confrontation with war and violence, but also the fascination with the world of the circus and nightlife, the longing for the landscape and a harmonious connection with nature - still play a major role in our present day and continue to inspire artists to create today. With selected reference works from the field of contemporary photography, the exhibition establishes a connection between the beginning of the 20th century and the present day.

With works by:
Willi Baumeister, Max Beckmann, Peter August Böckstiegel, Angus Boulton, Heinrich Campendonk, Gustav Deppe, Walter Dexel, Otto Dix, Conrad Felixmüller, Werner Gilles, Karl Otto Götz, George Grosz, Erich Heckel, Peter Herkenrath, Karl Hofer, Aino Kannisto, Ida Kerkovius, Anton Kerschbaumer, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Barbara Klemm, Käthe Kollwitz, Marie-Jo Lafontaine, August Macke, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Oskar Moll, Wilhelm Morgner, Otto Mueller, Gabriele Münter, Heinrich Nauen, Anja Niedringhaus, Karel Niestrath, Simone Nieweg, Emil Nolde, Walter Ophey, Otto Pankok, Hermann Max Pechstein, Christian Rohlfs, Andreas Rost, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Werner Scholz, Eberhard Viegener, Ira Vinokurova, Josef Wedewer, Hans Werdehausen, Wilhelm Wessel, Irmgart Wessel-Zumloh