Post Impressionism Essays
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Post impressionism is a term that is used to describe a group of late-19th century and early-20th century artists whose work helped art transition into a new era. These artist defied the naturalism of the Impressionist to explore color, line, and form. This rebellion led to the development of Expressionism. Generally, the approaches were so varied that it is difficult just to focus on one artist and their technique.
One of the most prominent Post-Impressionist artists was Vincent Van Gogh. His work is best known for its rough ascetic and bold colors. Van Gogh favored fauvism, which was a movement that implemented vivid expressionistic and non-naturalistic color. Van Gogh’s color was typically saturated and arbitrary. Most of Van Gogh’s paintings show gestural brushwork and examples include: Starry Night and Wheatfield with Cypresses. Also, he often experimented with different perspectives.
Another influential post-impressionist artists was George Seurat. Seurat’s main emphasises were surrealism and expressionism. Seurat used Renaissance techniques and styles, creating a hybrid approach to Post-Impressionism. This scientific, more disciplined approach is called Pointillism or Neo-Impressionism. Pointillism is characterized by applying many small dots of pure color so that they become blended to the viewer’s eye. The aim of pointillism is to produce a greater degree of luminosity and brilliance of color. With his new techniques, Seurat generally painted the middle class during their leisure time and his subjects include circus, parks, and harbors.
Paul Gauguin was a leading French post impressionist artist whose focus was his imagination. He worked in a studio and experimented with color. His wo...
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...rit of the dead, watches over her. Gauguin, in this painting, created a supernatural and fearful aura in this painting. Gauguin experimented with color to arouse deep emotion. Besides the upsetting color, the general composition of the painting is disturbing. The old woman in the background that is watching the girl is eerie.
A painting that inspired The Spirit of the Walking Dead was Olympia by Manet. With the completion of Olympia, Manet had set a new precedent for the modern female nude. Also, Manet rejected the standards and challenged people’s morality with his painting. Gauguin's painting challenged society by its form. The most shocking thing about the woman depicted is her age. When this was painted, she was fourteen. Also, the body is disproportionate. An example of this is how her hands are larger than her feet and how her body is awkwardly positioned.
During Vincent Van Gogh’s childhood years, and even before he was born, impressionism was the most common form of art. Impressionism was a very limiting type of art, with certain colors and scenes one must paint with. A few artists had grown tired of impressionism, however, and wanted to create their own genre of art. These artists, including Paul Gaugin, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Paul Cezanne, hoped to better express themselves by painting ...
Georges Seurat used the pointillism approach and the use of color to make his painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, be as lifelike as possible. Seurat worked two years on this painting, preparing it woth at least twenty drawings and forty color sketched. In these preliminary drawings he analyzed, in detail every color relationship and every aspect of pictorial space. La Grande Jatte was like an experiment that involved perspective depth, the broad landscape planes of color and light, and the way shadows were used. Everything tends to come back to the surface of the picture, to emphasize and reiterate the two dimensional plane of which it was painted on. Also important worth mentioning is the way Seurat used and created the figures in the painting.
It wasn’t until 1886 when he moved to Paris that he got acquainted with impressionism, which is why he went through a quick adaptation to the style. His progression is quite rapid, thus subsequently making it difficult to relate his paintings together and compare them with other artists’. However he did start using a lighter palette in 1886 compared to his earlier works, and in 1887 he changed to a pointillist technique, and then continued developing his own style.
In the 1880’s the movement known as Impressionism was coming to an end. The eight and last Impressionist exhibition was held in Paris during 1886 (Time). Although Impressionism was coming to an end new forms of art arose to take its place. Some famous artists producing during this time include, Van Gogh, Georges Seurat, and Odilon Redon (Georges). Odilon Redon started his own movement known as Symbolism, which strives to give form to ideas and emotions (Odilon). Another painter responsible for creating a new style is Georges Seurat. Seurat was a French painter who popularized and developed his own style called pointillism.
Beyond what they painted, Impressionists conveyed the modern city through their style of painting. They used techniques that emphasized that the scene was a moment in time. Many of their paintings were sketch-like, using thin but visible brushstrokes. They depicted light and shadows accurately, which often set the painting at a certain time of day. Also, they conveyed a sense of movement in their paintings, especially in human figures. These factors allow viewers to believe that the subjects of a painting w...
Georges Seurat was a French born artist born on December 2nd 1859 in Paris, Frrance. He study at École des Beaux-Art, which was one of the most prestige art schools in the world, which is also known for training many of the renounced artist we know. George Seurat left the École des Beaux-Art and began to work on his own; he began to visit impressionist exhibitions, where he gained inspiration from the impressionist painters, such as Claude Monet. Seurat also was interested in the science of art; he explored perception, color theory and the psychological effect of line and form. Seurat experimented with all the ideas he had gained, he felt the need to go beyond the impressionist style, he started to focus on the permanence of paintin...
Impressionism is very pretty and complicated. It was from 1860 to 1910. Monet is the perfect Impressionist. Impressionism had its basic tenants. Their subject matter was the middle upper class, the city, and leisurely activities. They painted on en plein air which means they painted outdoors. They painted in snow, rain, storm, just in order to record directly the effects of light and atmosphere. They painted with strokes and touches of pure color by using a great deal of white and rarely black. They recorded the shifting play of light on the surface of objects and the effect light has on the eye without concern for the physicality of the object being painted. They were influenced by Japanese art and photography. One of Monet’s works is titled Water Lilies. The medium of this work is oil on canvas. Monet is an impressionist. He puts up pure color just describe the water. He said, when you go out paint, the impression of the scene not the exact scene.
Vincent van Gogh lived from 1853 to 1890 and is arguably the most famous painter of the post-impressionism era of art. His painting style was often
For his explanation for his painting, he explained he “wanted to make modern people, doing their everyday activities moving about as they do, and place them on the canvas organized by color” (The Art Institute of Chicago " A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" 2017).
Claude Monet made the art community address a revolutionary type of art called impressionism. In a style not previously before painted, impressionism captured a scene by using bright colors with lots of light and different shades to create the illusion of a glance. The traditional method of working in a studio was discarded and the impressionist artists carried any needed supplies with them into the countryside and painted the complete work outside. The manufacture of portable tin tubes of oil paints as well as the discovery of ways to produce a wider range of chemical pigments allowed artists to paint in a way unimaginable before this period in time (Stuckey 12). Monet and others, such as Pierre Auguste Renior, Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, and Alfred Sisley, took this style of art to a new level never seen before.
During this time, new technologies impacted every aspect of life, rapidly changing the art world. Post-Impressionist artists learned skills, discipline, and value from the Impressionists before them, as well as the use of light, shadow, and color. However, these artists were more concerned about placing an emphasis on expression, structure, and form. Although they continued to use these learned techniques, they deposed the notion that art had to be represented in its true-life form, and thus moved away from realistic or natural representation. Preferring the more expressive effect that came from within themselves. they explored new techniques, perspectives, and shapes, incorporating their own new ideas into their art, such as placing emphasis on geometric form, or the actual distortion of form (MindEdge) which can be seen Van Gogh’s
Impressionism grew out of and followed immediately after the Barbizon school. A distinctive feature of the work of the Impressionists was the application of paint in touches of mostly pure colour rather than blended; their pictures appeared more luminous and colourful even than the work of Delacroix, from whom they had learned the technique. To the modern eye, the accepted paintings of the salon artists of the day seem pale and dull.
In this essay, I will contrast and compare the two art movements, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism. I will be concentrating on the works of the two leading artists of these styles Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh.
While living in Paris, Van Gogh was first introduced to impressionist art and was inspired by the color and light. “Inspired by these artists, he brightened his own palette and
“To my mind, a picture should be something pleasant, cheerful, and pretty, yes pretty! There are too many unpleasant things in life as it is without creating still more of them” (P.A.R Quotes). Pierre-Auguste Renoir was an artist that put his heart and soul into a painting. Prior to Renoir there were many artists. Renoir was a man after diversity and difference in his paintings. He did not want to be like everybody else. He and many others felt this way, forming a new art called Impressionism. This new concept originated in France in the 1860’s. In 1874 Impressionism really took off, these artist were going against Realism in every way. These artist of Impressionism only became a group because they were rejected by the Salon des Refuses. Their