Expressionist Philosophy


The development of science and industrialization during Nietzsche's lifetime was undoubtedly related to his idea that God is dead, and that we have killed him. And in turn, many Expressionist artists and writers were inspired and influenced by his writing and philosophy. In Grosz's detail of the Funeral March (1917), he depicts Nietzsche's idea of the chaos that had become the religion of the day. The priest leads the procession down the blood red street full of angry faces and vibrant energy. The figures surrounding the priest appear ferocious and inhuman. This depiction parallels Nietzsche's description of humans as the murderers of the sacred, the murderer of hope and of God. The new technology and impersonalization (thus industrialization) is destroying the hope and quality of the lives of humans, and unless abruptly stopped, will end in complete destruction.

In my piece the church has been almost crystallized to relate the inactive state of religion at the time. Religion is freezing out of the picture as the city crowds around it, reinforcing the idea that the industrialization of the city will eventually cause humanity's downfall.

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