Berwick Art Appreciation - Thursday 11 June '26

The Making of Modern Art - Part II The Path to Abstraction

Here we progress on our journey from the work of Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, distinctive styles, much influenced by Vincent van Gogh, whilst all in turn influenced the German Expressionists of Die Brucke and Der Blaue Reiter. German Expressionism emphasised the artist’s inner feelings, or ideas over replicating reality and was characterised by simplified shapes, bright colours and greater freedom of brush-work. The foremost artists of Die Brucke, formed in Dresden in 1905, were Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Erich Heckel. The key artists of the Munich based Der Blaue Reiter formed in 1911, were Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Auguste Macke, Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin and Gabriel Munter. But, was Kandinsky alone responsible for the final leap to non representational, abstract art?

Flyer