The Reading List: Expressionism

Overview

Expressionism by Norbert Wolf; Taschen, £6.99

Part of Taschen's excellent Basic Art Series, this comprehensive overview incorporates an impressive range of reproductions – including those from Wassily Kandinsky, George Grosz and Franz Marc. Wolf examines the origins of the Expressionist style, as well as its relationship with other, similarly motivated, artistic schools.

Biography

Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream by Sue Prideaux, £25

With its blood-red sky and haphazard, primitivist style, Munch's The Scream proved a source of inspiration for 20th-century Expressionists. A front-runner of the movement, Munch sought to represent the universal anxiety of humankind. In doing so, he introduced a new idea: that of projecting the artist's subjective viewpoint on canvas.

Collected letters

Joan Miró: Selected Writings and Interviews, edited by Margit Rowell, £10.99

The subject of a forthcoming Tate Modern show, Joan Miró continues to fascinate. Rowell's work offers a rich collection of notebooks, letters and interviews from Miró's time in interwar Paris: from boxing matches with Ernest Hemingway to rows with Picasso and Matisse.

Cinema

The Haunted Screen: Expressionism in the German Cinema and the Influence of Max Reinhardt by Lotte H. Eisner, £35.90

Expressionism wasn't just about painting: it extended to dance, literature and film, among others. In Berlin, film-makers were employing Expressionist techniques to create what became known as "The Golden Age of German Cinema". In this academic study, Eisner demonstrates the connection between Romanticism and the cinema, discusses the influence of the theatre and introduces the reader to the basic concepts underpinning the movement.

Abstract expressionism

American Abstract and Figurative Expressionism: Style Is Timely Art Is Timeless by Marika Herskovic, £60.97

Featuring 58 US artists of the post-Second World War era, Herkovic's work offers an unparalleled survey of the NYC and California abstract Expressionist movements. Each picture is accompanied by a blurb written by the artist. It's an invaluable guide.

Miró is at Tate Modern from 14 April