Expressionism encompasses a host of individuals and groups with varying stylistic approaches who moved in multiple directions toward a new style emphasizing intense personal expression. Renouncing the stiff bourgeois social values that prevailed at the turn of the 20th century, and rejecting the stale traditions of the state-sponsored art academies, they turned to boldly simplified or distorted forms and exaggerated, sometimes clashing colors. Directness, frankness, and a desire to startle the viewer characterize Expressionism in its various branches and permutations, the most significant of which are profiled here.