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Freedom of Expressionism The term “Expressionism” is used to describe a form of art which is meant to express emotion. The idea for expressionism originated in the late nineteenth century. During this time artists such as Vincent Van Gogh , Paul Gauguin, Paul Cezanne, and Edvard Munch used violent colors and exaggerated lines to obtain intense emotional expression. These men inspired the artists that would later be called expressionists. There are two main groups of expressionists--- the French expressionists, also called Fauves, and the German expressionists. French expressionism began in 1905. Several French artists were greatly impacted when a series of exhibitions of the works of Van Gogh, and Cezanne ran from 1901 to 1906. This was the first time that the works of these artists had been widely available for public viewing. In 1905, a group of young artists held an exhibit which so shocked the conservative critic Louis Vauxcelles that he called them “Fauves,” or “wild beasts.” Rather than take umbrage at this title, the artists embraced it with pride. The Fauves created a new style “ full of the violent color of Van Gogh and the bold distortions of Gauguin, which they manipulated freely for pictorial and e