Passionism is a contemporary art movement in Scandinavia, anti-avantgarde in its approach. The term was coined by art critique Merete Sanderhoff in her work Sorte Billeder [Black Pictures] as an attempt to categorise talents outside the avantgarde canon, that did not fit into any known art category. They are referred to as the black sheep of the contemporary art scene.
The passionist artists are concerned with the continuation of pre-avantgarde painting traditions without turning into a repetition of these works. They are not simply postmodernists because they actually take the content and the techniques of these traditional paintings seriously. The content focuses on narratives of riddles, yearning, and solemnity. That does not mean they lack humour, but their paintings are meant to be taken seriously. There is a tendency to create very dark paintings hence the title black pictures. Furthermore, they often comment on the doctrines of the modern and postmodern art and art theories, moving beyond these rigid constraints.
In France, Passionism differs from the Scandinavian's in that these Passionist artists claim their art is "born independently of the will of the artist, with no pre-planning or founding concept" (www.passionism.com). This strain of Passionism was created by Cat Moss and metcuc in May 2000, and launched to the public at the Forum de Nice in 2002 (see press and radio archive footage, Nice Matin Press and Radio FR3). It further claims to be "the first French artistic movement of the 21st Century, and the first artistic movement in the history of art to be spearheaded by women and followed by artists of all types around the globe. Passionist artists include writers, painters, photographers, poets, musicians, film directors, and fashion designers" (www.passionism.com)