Impressionism meets Expressionism

Hugo von Tschudi, director of the Alte Nationalgalerie from 1896 to 1909, recognized the enormous value of French Impressionist artworks. Hence why the gallery now possesses an important collection of such paintings. With his purchases - amongst them Edouard Manet's "The Winter Garden" (1878-79) - von Tschudi opened the first museum collection of Impressionist art in Germany.

Hugo von Tschudi's successor, Ludwig Justi, who headed the museum from 1909 to 1933, added Expressionist artworks to the collection - most of them paintings of German artists such as Franz Marc, August Macke or Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, who painted "The Rhine Bridge" in 1914.

From the beginning, people made comparisons between the two styles - at times sharply criticizing both. And yet nowadays, such paintings frequently embellish calendars and postcards. Kirchner's painting "Two Dancers" (1910-11) was, however, both political and sensual in nature: Kirchner avowed himself to being an outsider.

The public of the day did not appreciate this type of art, in general. These works, which were produced more or less simultaneously, were largely ignored by collectors. Even contemporary artist Adolph Menzel found the paintings of Edouard Manet, Claude Monet and Edgar Degas "hideous," describing them as "dirt." Edgar Degas painted "Dancers in Rehearsal Hall" around 1891.

Art critic Max Osborn held quite a different view, noting that: "With the Impressionists, a window has been opened with fresh air streaming in." Armed with brush and easel, the artists retreated into nature, painting landscapes, rivers and cities. In 1881, Pierre-Auguste Renoir produced his flourishing chestnut tree.

The Impressionists concentrated on the here and now. They wanted to eternalize the individual impression of a unique Moment, for example in the "Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning" (Camille Pissarro, 1897). They wanted the viewer to focus entirely on what he was looking at. The Expressionists developed the sense of abstraction even further, placing more emphasis on emotions.

Impressionist and Expressionist art of course differ from one other: An art of impression - such as Camille Pissarro's "Boulevard Montmartre by Night" (1897) - stands against an art of expression. Life-confirming paintings contrasting with existentialist art. French artists against German painters. But the more one tries to compare the two styles, the more similarities between them emerge.

Both styles were aiming at a direct, unadulterated view of reality. And both styles mark the dawn of modernity, characterized by painting in the wild and dealing with subjects of daily life, such as dancers, portraits of friends and family, people in nature, or city scenes, such as Otto Dix's "Street Lights" (1913).

Franz Marc is one of those German artists who were heavily influenced by French Impressionists, whom he admired and appreciated. "The French are more artistically minded and inward-looking so that German painting, in comparison, seems empty and void," noted the German Expressionist. In 1912, he painted "Cows Yellow-Red-Green".

The works of German Expressionists emerged partly out of an attitude of protest: They were opposed to authority and inequality. Nevertheless, their paintings tend to be rather harmless and nonpolitical. That also holds true for Max Pechstein's "Double Portrait" of 1910. Only after 1910 German Expressionist art became more somber, cold and ultimately political.

The Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin will host the exhibition "IMEX. Impressionism - Expressionism" until September 20, 2015, with 160 Impressionist and Expressionist works of art, largely by German and French artists. Featured in the exhibition is Karl Schmidt-Rottluff's "Girl in the Mirror" (1915).