Expressionism portrays emotions rather than the subject. Expressionistic pieces focus more on the feeling than the actual story. Judging by what I've seen so far of the Expressionist era, most of the emotions expressed are negative ones and are quite exaggerated.
I particularly enjoy the piece "Höre" by Else Lasker-Schüler. It's like I feel her jealousy while reading, and it's as if I can picture her confronting her ex. She changes the emotions subtly throughout the poem and it's so wonderfully condescending. I like how she kind of dangles herself in front of him as if to say: this is what you're missing. However, one can tell that she is the one who is probably hurting the most, and she expresses this beautifully.
Expressionism pieces saturate the raw emotions in specific scenes or situations. This is different from standard pieces because usually one is given the task to figure out the emotions and put them together within the context, thus getting the picture. As opposed to this movement which is more straightforward, pure emotion. I personally enjoy this movement because I love the emphasis on the emotions, because I believe that in any art piece, emotion is the core, and is perhaps not as prominent. I believe it's interesting to see the emotions distorted as the main the focus.
