Impressionism – Expressionism.
Art turnaround May 22, 2015 - September 20, 2015
Alte Nationalgalerie

The paintings of Impressionism and Expressionism are crowd pullers worldwide. In the summer of 2015, the National Gallery – State Museums in Berlin is presenting a unique exhibition that, for the first time, is dedicated to comparing both styles.

In 1896, the National Gallery acquired the first museum collection of impressionist images through its director Hugo von Tschudi, ahead of Paris and other metropolises. Tschudi's successor Ludwig Justi, in turn, assembled a famous collection of expressionist works in the former Kronprinzenpalais after 1918.

A comprehensive show will now explore the similarities and differences between the two movements as well as the great popularity of these styles. A good 160 impressionist and expressionist masterpieces by predominantly German and French artists from the holdings of the Nationalgalerie and from international museums are shown in the Alte Nationalgalerie.

The development of Impressionism is associated in France with artists such as Monet, Degas and Renoir and in Germany with painters such as Liebermann, Corinth and Slevogt. The violent backlash against Expressionism found its strongest expression in Germany - with painters such as Kirchner, Heckel, Nolde and Marc.

No other styles were compared so intensively and sharply with one another in their time. All attempts to grasp the characteristics of “impression art” and “expression art” amounted to an antithetical comparison: here the cheerful French-style impressionism, there the existentialist German expressionism.

Despite their opposing approaches, the similarities between Impressionism and Expressionism are surprisingly great. What they have in common is the anti-academic affront and the departure into modernity. They combine the appreciation of plein air painting and the implementation of direct light, color and emotional experiences. For representatives of both styles, subjectivity and the individuality of brush writing are positive values. Last but not least, the transition of many artists from impressionistic to expressionistic design methods proves the structural relationship between the two styles.

After the audience got used to the sketchy, spontaneous brushwork, the triumph of both styles began, which continues to this day. The motifs taken from everyday life - the city with its streets and squares, the people in the bars, cafés and restaurants, the places of leisure on the outskirts of the city, at the lakes and by the sea, the family and the private environment - contributed significantly popularity of both styles. Socially critical traits only became increasingly visible from 1910 onwards. The exhibition is structured according to the common main motifs of both styles and takes up the entire middle floor of the Alte Nationalgalerie.