Browse our selection of expressionism paintings for sale. We showcase some of the best contemporary painters working in the expressionistic style today, with our collection ever evolving to ensure you find something. If you are not sure where to start, explore our popular portrait, still life or landscape expressionism paintings.
Grigorii Pavlychev is a Russian expressionistic painter whose work focuses on portraiture and abstraction. In Soaring Girls (2019) Pavlychev’s gestural and erratic brushstrokes distort the figures with thick and textural layers of paint, while his non-naturalistic and blunt colours trace the curves and density of the female form.
The expressionist style is said to have originated with Vincent Van Gogh, before becoming a major style all throughout the twentieth century. Expressionistic painters typically distort the image of reality through non-naturalistic and highly intense or vivid use of colour. Brushstrokes are also a lot looser and the application of paint can be heavy to create textured.
This freer method allowed artists to create paintings infused with a sense of immediacy and pure expression of emotion, leading to the term expressionist.
The style influenced art movements such as German Expressionism, neo-expressionism and abstract expressionism, as well as many artists such as Edvard Munch, Egon Schiele and Francis Bacon, to name but a few.
Schiele is known for his expressive use of line, which he created by retaining constant eye contact with his models, channelling a more intense experience and creating a loose and continuing line.
