Symbolic color and liberated shapes · 1905 -1930

Blue horses, sign birds, colorful fish and skinned bodies show how expressionism transforms the animal into emotion, symbol or inner vision.

Expressionist artists do not paint the animal to give a zoological description. They modify the color, simplify the body and fragment the space in order to make an inner experience visible. Franz Marc places the animal at the center of a spiritual and harmonious world: blue, yellow and red have a symbolic value for him, and the curves of the horse or deer respond to the landscape. Paul Klee instead transforms the bird and the fish into floating signs, close to childish drawing, music or writing. At Chaïm Soutine, the Flayed Ox becomes a mass of red, flesh and matter whose touch acts almost physically. These approaches very different people share the same freedom: the animal can become pure color, graphic rhythm, symbol of vulnerability or body subjected to violence. Expression always precedes resemblance. The "Expressionist Animals" selection notably compares Le Boeuf écorché - Chaïm Soutine and Oiseau-bleu-pumpkin - Paul Klee. Its reading favors space.

The expressionist animal does not imitate nature: it reveals an energy hidden by color, sign and deformation.