ABSTRACT
Early twentieth-century artistic phenomena in Bulgaria do not conform neatly to the terminology and classifications of West European art, which is why the use of terms such as cubism, fauvism, expressionism, and constructivism has always required further clarification. This is not to say that these movements were not felt in Bulgaria. Artistic exchanges brought Bulgarian artists into contact with West European centers of cultural influence, leading to the transfer of these ideas and developments into a local, Bulgarian context, but with a variety of meanings. A study of its critical practice and leading practitioners in this local context is important for understanding the role of expressionism—and the language by which it was discussed. In the case of Bulgaria, a keen interest in modernist art and the European avant-garde movements, specifically expressionism, began shortly before and then continued to grow during the First World War. The first part of my essay discusses the uses of the term “expressionism” by the Bulgarian artistic milieu and focuses on Bulgarian contacts with the protagonists of expressionism in Germany, specifically the links to Munich and the circle around Wassily Kandinsky, and to Berlin and those associated with Herwarth Walden. 1
