existentialism

(noun)

A twentieth-century philosophical movement emphasizing the uniqueness of each human existence in freely making its self-defining choices. This movement had foundations in the thought of Søren Kierkegaard (1813-55) and Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and was notably represented in the works of Karl Jaspers (1883-1969), Gabriel Marcel (1887-1973), Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80).

Related Terms

Examples of existentialism in the following topics:

  • European Postwar Expressionism

    • More concerned with the philosophical and cultural movement of Existentialism, European artists grappled with the meaning of the figure and its isolated, individual experience of the world.
    • This painting by Bacon exemplifies a figurative portrayal of existential and individual angst that European Expressionists typically display in their work.