Dr. Caligari as German Expressionism

The German Expressionist cinema began in 1919 and was itself essentially an opposite of Impressionism. While Impressionism dealt more with giving an outward impression of an object, Expressionism sought to induce the emotional feel an object invokes on itself. Seemingly most often, Expressionist art is more about the artist than the subject. More importantly, however, is the fact that all definitions of "Expressionism" describe it as a theory of art that expresses feelings in an abstract …

…achieved with film was simply unrealized. The style was ground-breaking, taking film from an art form that dealt almost solely in displaying reality to an art form that brings the viewer physical representations of emotion and theme. While during this time period, many features tended toward documentary type objectivism, Dr. Caligari not only showed that film could, but that it would, present the subjective as well, opening up new doors of poetic and artistic expression.