One movement that really sticks with me is Expressionism. It can be understood as a psychological by-product of the anxieties tied to the modern world in the early twentieth century. What draws me to it is how little it cares about getting things “right” visually, and how much it leans into getting something right emotionally. Expressionist artists weren’t trying to make perfect images; they were trying to make you feel something real, using arbitrary color and loosened brushwork to push back against societal norms. Käthe Kollwitz is someone I connect to a lot because her work doesn’t hold back, and she fully leans into the weight of her subject matter. There’s this rawness to it, grief and heaviness that comes through in the way she handles the figure. It’s not about idealizing anything; it’s about confronting it head-on. That idea of using the figure to carry emotional weight instead of just describing a body is something I try to do in my own work.
In my self-portrait specifically, I’m dealing with the idea of hiding from my own emotions, both visually and conceptually. I layer darker, diluted colors beneath lighter, more saturated ones, building a sense of depth that feels buried rather than exposed. The hood and sunglasses act as a kind of barrier, like I’m choosing not to engage, not to look too closely. That approach connects directly to Expressionism, where the image becomes a way to show internal struggle instead of external reality. Kollwitz’s work, and others from the movement, often carry that same tense atmosphere, where the figure feels burdened or trapped by something larger than itself. Expressionist artists also aimed to critique the modern city, documenting the alienating effects that come with rapid urbanization. That’s the space I’m trying to get into-where the painting pushes beyond color and academic standards, and into something more psychological, something that resonates with the human condition.
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