Expressionism found its first real and broad acceptance in Germany, and it is no coincidence. It all has to do with a group of artists who first termed themselves Neue Künstlervereinigung, and later adopted the name ‘Der Blaue Reiter’, i.e. The blue Rider. It all helped pave the way for German recognition of international artists such as Edvard Munch
To be more precise Der Blaue Reiter consisted of artists from the Neue Künstlervereinigung München in Munich, Germany. The founding members were the Russian emigrants Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin, but soon included native German artists, such as Gabriele Münter, Franz Marc, August Macke. The movement lasted from 1911 to 1914. Together with Die Brücke, Blaue Reiter is now seen as fundamental to expressionism.
In 2011 Germany celebrated the 100 year day of der Blaue Reiter, not least by printing a series of national postage stamps to commemorate.
You can read more about German expressionism here.
