Impressionism and Expressionism art movements?

Question

Hi there, i was just wondering what the difference is between expressionism and impressionism. I have googled images of them and they both look alike in brush strokes etc. I am doing a critical expressive art essay for my standard grade course, and I'm finding it quite hard to be honest, but i thought expressionism and impressionism works would be good to write about because i can write about texture/brush strokes where as i cant really in surrealism. If i wrote about a piece of impressionism and then a piece of expressionism would there be a good conclusion to make? I can't see the difference between the two! What is it? Also is there any other art movements that would be good to write about and could give a good conclusion?

Thanks

xoxo

Answer 1

A simple way to look at the two movements is,Impressionism is about how things look,the play of light on things,how the colours separate and blend in together.With Expressionism the work is more about the ideas about things,more emotional and intense.Abstract Expressionism is also about the paint gesture but does not immediately connect with the real world as much.This is a very simple starting point.For artists,try Monet,his early and his late work (Rouen Cathedral,the Haystacks and the Water Lilies)Max Beckman,the German Expressionist and Jackson Pollack and Franz Kline in the last group.

Answer 2

Impressionism was a somewhat radical art movement that evolved from the moving outdoors from the studio and painting "the ever changing light."  Impressionists break up the light into many colors, and paint those colors in such a way that the viewer's eye mixes and blend them from a distance.  This is why impressionism tends to shimmer and dance:  http://www.dl.ket.org/webmuseum/wm/paint...

Expressionism is all about depicting the emotions, either universal human feelings or those of the artist:  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en...

I guess if you are comparing brush handling, impressionism really employes broken up color in small brushstrokes, whereas expressionism employs bold and sweeping stroke, more often than not.  But the difference, whoa!  How did you miss them?  They are not the same at all!  Impressionistic works tend to be pretty and filled with light. . . and expressionism tend to be darker, deeper, and they use bolder or more muted, even muddy colors.  

All art movements are interesting if you study the history (context) in which they evolved, and the personalities of s few of the artists, how the works were originally received by the public. and what movements preceded and followed them.  It sounds to me like you haven't done much research yet, as your post makes it sound like it would be a simple paper if you just picked the right art movement(s) . . . lol!  You can't write this paper based an observation of a few images alone. . . . and you can only draw conclusions once you have information that you have processed!  This assignment is actually almost MORE about writing and synthesizing your information and ideas than it is about art movements.  But no paper will ever write itself, and it won't satisyfy the elements of the assignment if you don't do a little research and background before tackling the writing.  

I would do a little history of what movements led up to impressionism and expressionism, who the main players were, and how they influenced what followed.  It also really helps when you understand why the movement came about.  You wouldn't compare rap to grunge based on a couple songs, would you?  No, you would have to find out what caused rap and grunge to become popular, who made them that way, and what influences they had on music in general to have a good paper!  

It might also help you to know that impressionism seemed to arise out of the plein air movement and spread from France http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressioni... , expressionism seems to have gotten its start in Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressioni... .