Towards a Collapsing World: German Expressionism

The early decades of the twentieth century witnessed an extraordinary moment in German art, as artists responded to a modern world in flux with works that engaged deeply with contemporary society, politics and culture.

Following rapid industrialisation, Germany experienced a period of profound upheaval, buffeted by the forces of war and defeat, revolution, hyperinflation and shifting European alliances. This constellation of events offered fertile ground for artists in Berlin, Munich, Dresden and the Austrian capital, Vienna: seeking a more authentic form of expression to communicate the torment of their lived experiences, these artists developed a new visual language, forged directly from their personal, emotional and psychological realities.

‘Towards a Collapsing World’ explores this period of significant cultural flourishing through a focused survey of works on paper by leading figures of German Expressionism. Rather than having a single, unified approach, this movement is characterised by a plurality of attitudes and styles, with artist forming and dissolving groups such as Die Brücke (The Bridge) and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) in response to fluctuating ideologies. Common to these disparate voices was a shared belief in the power of art to effect social change.

The woodcut print became an important vehicle within German Expressionism, reviving a rich medieval heritage. Its stark, simplified forms – expressed through bold, flat patterns and raw aesthetic intensity – conveyed inner turmoil and social critique with urgency, situating the movement somewhere between an idealised German Gothic past and an unattainable utopian future.

A dance motif recurs throughout the works on display, beginning with a 1901 aquatint by Käthe Kollwitz – an important forerunner of German Expressionism – and extending to Max Beckmann’s portrayals of Weimar-era cabarets. Whether frenzied or joyous, revolutionary or bourgeois, these dancing figures embody an agitated, liberated and vital response to a dramatically destabilised world order.

Feature image: Max Beckmann / Germany 1884–1950 / Auferstehung (Resurrection) (from 'Gesichter (Faces)' portfolio) 1918 / Drypoint on paper / Gift of Timothy North and Denise Cuthbert through the QAGOMA Foundation 2023. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program