Expressionism

He was very different from the other expressionists, because . his paintings are traditional - still lifes, portraits, historical paintings, and mythological subjects. But while his frenetic brushwork and highly complex compositions have much in common with German Expressionism, Beckmann's paintings were never really as abstract as the usual modernist works. In his 1938 lecture "On My Painting," Beckmann explained: "I hardly need to abstract things, for each object is unreal enough already, so unreal that I can only make it real by means of painting."
Expressionism started as an outlet for artists to express their feelings in times of war and political troubles, which is also the reason lots of expressionistic works are very dark. The idea of bright, solid colors to express different states of mind and emotion helped in composition and appearance. …