today hailed as one of the most influential shifts in art history. With leading groups Die Brucke (The Bridge) and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), and key players such as Wassily Kandinsky, Egon Schiele,and Emil Nolde, the Expressionists disowned Impressionism, which they regarded as "man lowered to the position of a gramophone record of the outer world", to depict instead a raw and visceral experience of life as it was felt, rather than seen on the surface. Their paintings brim with emotive force, conveyed in particular through intense and non-naturalistic color palettes, loose brushwork, and thick textures. Covering the group's stylistic tendencies, influences, and most important protagonists, this introductory book explores the Expressionist panorama of moods, ideas, and emotions and their abiding quest for deep authenticity.