A pan-European movement in the arts---especially painting---that developed in the first third of the twentieth century. Rejecting impressionism and naturalism, expressionism is anti-realist in both approach and subject matter. It aims to ârender visibleâ (to use one of its leading artists Paul Kleeâs famous phrase) that which escapes representational painting, such as the raw effects of emotion, sexuality and spirituality. Inspired by the writings of the founder of psychoanalysis, Freud, Sigmund, which explore the hidden world of the unconscious, expressionism wants to shed light on the complex impulses underpinning daily life. The leading figures of this movement were the Viennese painters Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele and the Norwegian Edvard Munch whose âScreamâ paintings are perhaps the sine qua non of the Expressionist style. See also German expressionism.