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Expressionism and Impressionism Throughout history there have been many art movements with different backgrounds, motivations and inspirations. Two of these movements that interest me are impressionism and expressionism. These movements differ in many aspects, including inspiration, colour and subject. Expressionism first started around the turn of the century and was a fresh way of expressing art. Before, art was mainly preoccupied with recording actual scenes and events. Artists like Ernst Ludwig, Eric Heckel and Emil Nolde opened new doors in the world of painting and decided to record their feelings and outlooks on subjects. Expressionism describes a particular approach to life and shows the artist’s emotional response to a subject. Edvard Munch was one of the increasing numbers of artists who were turning their style into Expressionism. Munch specialized in trying to understand human life. He looked at several aspects of life and tried to incorporate and explain them in his paintings. He looked closely at the subject of death, love and sexual relationships. In many of his paintings he portrayed human despair using blank, staring faces. The same image of a face showing despair features on many of his works