$THE IMPRESSIONISTS The Impressionist period of art was the greatest revolution in art since the Renaissance. In the decades 1860s to the 1880s a new style and a new revolutionary attitude to the subject of art and to life itself characterized this new movement among a group of painters known as the Impressionists. The Impressionists deliberately rejected: · the picturesque & the pretty · myths, legends & literary ideas · pretentiousness · correctness · the sacred They challenged all assumptions about art: its role in society, life and values. In the past moral worth and the search for the best determined much of what the artist should paint. The Impressionists turned to the · the banal · the ordinary · the low & ugly · the amoral. This turning was a slap in the face to the public, exciting some and infuriating others. This change in attitude came at the same time as the growing power of the liberal, middle class and their turning away from noble Pre-Revolutionary Europe and its values. It was the age of the Novel with its accent on the ordinary, and the prosaic. It was the age also of scientific materialism and the associated reduction of reality to observed phenomena. · Revolution in Style · The artist was now to see the subject without any presuppositions. The eyes alone would determine the scene with no preliminary shifting of focus or arrangements to create a painterly composed scene; no blending of colours to make reality smooth. Light and colour became the basic objects of each stroke of paint; not the form of the subject. Visual sensations alone determined art. Brushstrokes became thicker with the bravura style of large strokes of single-coloured paint determining the form of the subject. However, the Impressionists avoided even the strictures of a set style. Each painter interpreted the general mood of the times as best fitted himself, so there was no set style, no dogma to follow. Impressionism developed into Expressionism since the emotion of the artist became the object of the impressions. The pure Impressionists like Monet and Pissarro strictly avoid any social comment in their art, but to the public at large there seemed a common element linking all the works of the Impressionists and the Post Impressionists: a revolution in attitude to art and a deliberate turning away from 500 years of artistic style. All searched for a new way of expressing reality as if reality was to be discovered afresh and only by them. The main artists in this period are the great Impressionists Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Sisley, and Pissarro; with Degas, Renoir, van Gogh, Gauguin and Seurat, taking up different approaches as the century ended. #MANET 1832-83 Edouard Manet was an Impressionist painter who stood at the transition between the old and new styles, but fully embraced the revolutionary attitude to his subjects. Manet's style started to reflect Impressionist techniques in his later works. Manet is seen as the leader of the Impressionist movement, but more in moral support than in revolutionary style. The Impressionists were known as the band of Manet. *902 Manet STILL LIFE WITH CARP 1864 Art Institute, Chicago. Unlike traditional still-lifes, Manet's new style is distinctive. In the fleeting impressions, and the gesture of the brushstroke we recognize the oyster shells, lemon and the carp. *903 Manet MOCKING OF CHRIST 1865 Art Institute, Chicago. Painted in the style of Titian whom he copied as a student, two of the figures are similar to those by Velasquez whose works he would have seen in a trip to Italy in 1863. This work was presented to the Salon and shocked the public in its secular impression of Christ as a very plain man. *904 Manet LEAVING BOULOGNE HARBOUR 1864 Art Institute, Chicago. The sea was a popular subject for the Impressionists with its ever-changing surfaces and shimmering light reflection. Manet chose to reveal a great expanse of water emphasized by the quick brushstrokes creating black sailboats against the blue seawater. *905 Manet LONGCHAMP RACETRACK 1864 Art Institute, Chicago. An unusual subject for Manet who preferred static subjects, he has chosen a dramatic perspective, which suggests an unnatural width of the track from which the galloping horses explode. Dabs of colour and white pigments create the impression of a bustling, excited crowd. *901 Manet MONET IN FLOATING STUDIO 1874 Alte Pinakotheka, Munich. The quick, vibrant brushstrokes succeed in capturing the essence of the moment and the personality of the sitters, while presenting a sparkling sea and moving sky. *906 Manet LE JOURNAL ILLUSTRE 1878 Art Institute, Chicago. This painting illustrates the style of the artist who changed artistic attitudes and ideas. It is a work of impulse and directness, bold and colourful, with no political statement. *961 Manet PORTRAIT OF ALPHONSE MAUREAU Pastel, Art Institute, Chicago. The subject was a friend of Manet's and a minor Impressionist. Here Manet captures the relaxed nature of their friendship. He uses heavy thick strokes on the jacket to create a sense of volume. #MONET 1840-1926 Claude Monet was the purest Impressionist because he was fully committed to the revolution in subject and style. Subjects are chosen for their possibilities to reveal the new style alone, such that by the 1890s, the representation of real life subjects is almost lost in abstractions of brushstrokes. Monet's style is fresh and airy, using dazzling colours he captures the natural spontaneity of light. Each brushstroke is separated from the next, fragmented, and contains a datum of light and colour on its own. Light defines all forms, shadows have a separate colour of their own. Monet refused to put all the subject together for the viewer. 'Monet is only an eye, but, my God, what an eye!', said Cezanne. *912 Monet BEACH AT SAINTE-ADRESSE 1867 Art Institute, Chicago. Monet frequently used the dramatic effects of black and white, strong contrast in his early work. The vivid blues and clean whites and blacks suggest a freshness in this scene. The large expanse of sky is balanced by the crisp strong shapes of the sail and fishing boats in the sea and on the shoreline. *914 Monet THE RIVER 1868 Art Institute, Chicago. Forms are suggested by distinct areas of colour rather than in detailed modelling. What is presented is what immediately hits the viewer's eye before lengthy examination. The flickering light and reflection of sky and buildings in the river are the focus of the canvas. The branches of the tree hide the houses from our view and even the figure of Camille, his mistress, has her back to us and gazes at the river and its reflections. *908 Monet GARDEN AT ARGENTEUIL 1874 Private Collection, Paris. Monet lived near Paris for seven years and often painted this garden and along the Seine River. This study shows the intensity of his palette, and colour and life within the shadows. *911 Monet STATION OF ST LAZARE 1877 Art Institute, Chicago. Monet completed at least seven large canvases in or near the Gare St Lazare at different times of the day, in different weather. It is the atmosphere created by the steam, smoke, soot and sunlight below the glass-covered roof, which he wishes to capture in his vigorous brushstrokes. *913 Monet BORDIGHERA 1884 Art Institute, Chicago. In the Mediterranean, Monet felt the challenge to express the luminosity of the light. But he was also attracted by the exotic foliage and trees which here frame the vista of the sub-drenched old town. *910 Monet SELF PORTRAIT 1886 Jeu de Paume, Paris. The self-portrait became a challenge to the Impressionists: to capture the fleeting impressions of the face as well as the character, without demanding formal compositional studies. *915 Monet TWO HAYSTACKS 1891 Art Institute, Chicago. Monet's preoccupation with reducing all that he saw into terms of pure light became all encompassing. He invented a name for it: 'instantaneity'. This painting is one of 15 presented in an exhibition which stunned its Paris audience. It is clear Monet's interest was in pure atmospheric changes. Forms are obscured though sometimes recognizable by diffused and broken light and colour. Depth is not important, merely surface and colour-light relationships. *916 Monet SANDVIKA 1895 Art Institute, Chicago. Monet travelled to Norway for four months. His few paintings from this time remind us of Sisley's snowy landscapes, very spontaneous brushstrokes and limited palette of pastel toning. *909 Monet HOUSE OF WESTMINSTER 1903 Private Collection, Paris. Monet paid many visits to London in winter. The great appeal was the atmosphere created by the London fogs. Monet's mists were diffused with an endless variety of colour harmonies depending on the time of day. Architectural landmarks became grandiose yet mysterious, the atmosphere around them is tangible. *907 Monet WATER LILIES 1905 Art Institute, Chicago. This is one of many studies of his water garden and part of his second lily-pond series. Monet focused on the surface of the water and changing light reflections. The lily-ponds define the horizontal plane of the pond's surface while the colour and swift, fresh strokes from the artist's palette suggest the movement of the water's reflected surface. No horizon lines - no reference points - pure impression. #CEZANNE 1839-1906 Paul Cezanne's Impressionist art is highly structured, more formal, and more abstract. He maintained an independent approach to the problems of the new art. Each object has equal intensity making all objects of equal weight and therefore equal depth. This breaks up space and unifies the whole visual scene. Each stroke and colour is united with whole structure. *919 Cezanne SELF PORTRAIT 1879 Museum of Western Art, Moscow. Cezanne painted four self-portraits in this year, in various styles, each approaching the problem of creating a portrayal of depth by insisting on using flat surfaces. *918 Cezanne VIEW OF ST HENRI 1883 Private Collection, Paris. The view from the Bay from L'Estaque occupied Cezanne's attention. The depth and surface created by this environment, served as a medium for his developing interest in shape and volume. *917 Cezanne MARSEILLES SEEN FROM L'ESTAQUE 1886 Art Institute, Chicago. Though he exhibited his work with the Impressionists, his own style developed more structural order of the interplay of light on surfaces and colour harmonies. His minute strokes combined to form an image of solidity yet movement of various planes and surfaces, yet no depth, pure abstraction in form. *922 Cezanne STILL LIFE 1888 Louvre, Paris. Cezanne stressed the form and volume of objects by simplifying and synthesizing outlines and arranging vanishing points above or below the horizon. Each component is translated into vivid colour with shadows defined in complementary toning, defying a general light source. Brushstrokes speak of spontaneity yet create a clear structure of planes and surfaces. *920 Cezanne CHATEAU NOIR PARK 1900. This view of the forest where Cezanne frequently walked, is one of many trees and rocks. But the subject matter is irrelevant. "Art must have impact on nature in recording the elements and appearances that go with each change, thus art lets us sample eternal nature", said the artist. *921 Cezanne MME CEZANNE 1890 Art Institute, Chicago. This is an exercise in the union of the primary colours: red, yellow and blue, on the same plane with the contrasts of strong blacks and white, than a pure portrait. Historic perspective has disappeared: the figure, the chair, and the setting meet as separate planes in a compositional, abstract arrangement. #DEGAS 1834-1919 Edgar Degas did not follow the pure Impressionist style in painting techniques, but in his subject matter he is identified with the revolution: dancers, public meetings, etc. He was concerned with classically-precise composition but he invented new ways of looking at the subject, especially the odd-angled perspective. Degas freezes his subjects to capture the emotion of the scene. *924 Degas L'ABSINTHE 1880 Louvre, Paris. Degas' work showed less concern for light and unlike other Impressionists he almost never painted out of doors. His painting was affected by the popularity of Japanese prints at this time, angled views and patterning. Here diagonal planes cut across the canvas in front of the viewer who has just risen to glance across at a man and woman. No legs are represented on the table. Details do not clutter the space, only the faces of the pair are clear and expressive, the rest is blurred. *925 Degas ARABESQUE 1880 Pastel and oil, Louvre, Paris. This pastel on canvas and oil is one of many studies of dancers, captured in unusual poses. *927 Degas AFTER THE BATH 1883 Pastel, Private Collection, Paris. In these frank studies of nude female figures, the beautiful contours of a woman's body are concealed in unusual poses and viewpoints. *926 Degas THE TUB 1883 Louvre, Paris. Frequently seen from the back, these nudes were controversial. His use of pastels in later years gave the medium of popularity because of the strength and clarity he was able to convey. Form is diffused in a dance of light, colours and line. *923 Degas DANCERS 1890 Pastel and oil, Private Collection, Paris. In his late pastels, Degas achieved some of his greatest colour harmonies, more glowing and lavish than ever before. Dancers were a subject of painting and sketching all his life. He spent endless hours behind the stage at the old Paris Opera studying ballerinas at work. #PISSARRO 1830-1903 Camille Pissarro, an Impressionist painter, used Monet's techniques of capturing the transience of a scene with individualized brushstrokes. He applied his style to rural landscapes, and peasant scenes. His paintings convey a sense of fresh natural purity. *929 Pissarro WOMAN AND CHILD AT WELL 1882 Art Institute, Chicago. Painted at the time when Pissarro was most influenced by the pointillist technique of Seurat, the artist nevertheless maintained a freshness and a naturalism in his work. His figures retain a spiritual quality indicated in the expression of the young woman. *930 Pissarro WOMAN IN AN ORCHARD 1887 Louvre, Paris. In this work, which was hung with the work of Seurat and Signac in Paris, Pissarro's divisionist technique is apparent. No colour or brushstroke merges on the canvas, but rather blends in the eye of the viewer. He made many studies for this large painting. *928 Pissarro WOMEN GLEANING 1889 Private Collection, Basle. As one of the older impressionists, Pissarro appreciated the importance of the realists such as Courbet and Millet, whose Gleaners he used as a model for this work. However, he avoids the social comment and concentrates on the visual impressions of the scene. #SISLEY 1833-1899 Alfred Sisley was a Paris-born English artist, influenced by Monet and became part of the Impressionist movement. Sisley integrated the English art of landscape painting with the poetic gentleness of watercolours to the oil techniques of the French movement. *931 Sisley L'ARBREUVOIR DE MARLY 1875 Art Institute, Chicago. A contemporary of Sisley summed up his painting at this time thus: "It is an art that is free, honest and poetical, the spirit dreams, the eyes derive pleasure and the hand is intelligent". His compositions were not dramatic or demanding. They allowed the eye never to roam. His paint was applied in a fluid technique, supporting the colour scheme in a soft mixture revealing the essential form of the painting. *932 Sisley STREET IN MORET 1882 Art Institute, Chicago. This is a viewpoint from his corner studio in Moret. The figures are unimportant, mere suggestions. What matters is the atmosphere and the sense of the moment. #RENOIR 1841-1919 Pierre Renoir's Impressionist style is characterized by his emotional response to people. His feelings focussed on a person's warmth and ordinariness, and he was less concerned with the brushstrokes themselves as with atmosphere and colour. Because of his concern for feeling Renoir composes his subjects but without intellectualizing them. He depicted people as they were. *937 Renoir LADY AT PIANO 1875 Art Institute, Chicago. This work studies the effect of deep perspective created by the colours alone. Renoir also liked to capture fashions and the atmosphere of the drawing room. *938 Renoir YOUNG WOMAN SEWING 1879 Art Institute, Chicago. Here Renoir contrasts the head of the woman against the detailed arrangement of flowers: the flowers portrayed in old style; the woman in the soft new Impressionistic style. *935 Renoir MLLE GRIMPEL IN A BLUE RIBBON 1880 Private Collection, Paris. Here Renoir captures the warm life of children in this study in blue, brown, and amber. *962 Renoir ON THE TERRACE 1881 Art Institute, Chicago. Renoir's love of women and children subjects is borne out by a splendidly colourful and warm contrast of primary colours: red, green and blue. *934 Renoir MADAME CLAPISSON 1883 Art Institute, Chicago. This was Renoir's second portrait of Madame Clapisson and perhaps his most formal portrait study. But its daring contrasts and bravura clearly set it amongst his finest. The strong black and white of her dress and delicate flesh, contrast with the totally abstract background, all created by rapid brushstrokes. *933 Renoir THE BATHERS 1887 Museum of Art, Philadelphia. Influenced by Boucher's nudes, Renoir imparted a playful gaiety in this scene which shocked his audiences. The figures are tightly modelled in contrast to the shimmering, loose brushstrokes used in the surrounding landscape. But the combination is both appealing and calculated. *936 Renoir THE ARTIST'S SON WRITING 1905 Private Collection, Paris. In this study of children Renoir captures the pleasure of viewing his son, Coco. Bright contrasting primary colours echo the warmth of the father-son relationship. #VAN GOGH 1853-1890 Vincent van Gogh extended the Impressionist techniques to express deep-felt feelings about life. His work is sometimes called Post-Impressionism. His visions are the result of searching for the fundamental reality behind a scene. Visual sensation is everything. If reality is the sense datum then part of the sense datum are his intense feelings. His works are full of tension, clashing brushstrokes, distortions, arbitrary colours: all to express emotion. Van Gogh reacted against any sense of rules implied by Monet's cool appraisal of reality or Gauguin's search for truth in the primitive world. *939 van Gogh SELF PORTRAIT 1887 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The use of the impasto brush creates an intensity of emotion with a radiating distortion of lines from the head to draw attention to the emotion. *941 van Gogh DRAW BRIDGE 1888 Wallrat-Richertz Museum, Cologne. In 1888 van Gogh was in Arles with Gauguin; his happiest years, and it shows in his work at this time. He soaked up the countryside, feverishly painting all he saw. 'Colour in a picture is like enthusiasm in life' he wrote to his brother, Theo. This is very apparent in the clarity and richness of colour in this work. *940 van Gogh SELF PORTRAIT 1889 Louvre, Paris. Modern expressionism began with the works of this tragic Dutchman, and the intensity of emotion presented in each of his self-portraits indicate the anguish and solitude endured by him. With his passion, van Gogh applied thick, impasto paint in swift brushstrokes to create some of the strongest imposing works ever produced. These self-portraits speak of the man. *943 van Gogh BOATS AT LES SAINTE MARIE 1888 Watercolour, Private Collection, Berlin. In 1888 van Gogh was in Arles with Gauguin; his happiest years, and it shows in his work at this time. He soaked up the countryside, feverishly painting all he saw. 'Colour in a picture is like enthusiasm in life,' he wrote to his brother, Theo. This is very apparent in the clarity and richness of colour in this work. *944 van Gogh BEDROOM AT ARLES 1889 Museum of Impressionism, Paris. Painted just before Gauguin arrived to visit, van Gogh painted a simple room in contrasting warm and cool tones. Bold brushstrokes describe the wooden floor, while the objects in the room are carefully presented in flat, solid colour, outlined - an influence from Japanese prints. The unusual perspective throws the essential colours of the room into relief. *945 van Gogh LA BERCEUSE 1889 Art Institute, Chicago. This portrait of his postman's wife was one of many representing Mme Roulen rocking the cradle. Primitive imagery is seen in the strong complementary colours and the flat planes. The decorative background is patterned after the Japanese print and contrasts strongly with the flatness of Mme Roulen and the lower part of background which is solid red. *946 van Gogh SUNFLOWERS 1888 National Gallery, London. Perhaps his best known painting and his brightest, was painted at Arles in the happiest period of his life. He wrote that he planned to paint several paintings of sunflowers to decorate his studio, using chrome yellow, pure and unbroken. The centres of the flowers and petals are so thickly painted, close to a 1/4 inch in places, as to create actual sculptural relief. *947 van Gogh MARKET GARDENS 1888 Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. This study reveals the rhythm and warmth of nature, diagonals cause the eye to criss-cross into the depth of the painting. *948 van Gogh L'ARLESIENNE 1888 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A neighbour in the regional costume of Provence posed five times for van Gogh. They are all heavily textured in the modelling the light and shade and in the breaking up of areas of colour. Silhouette effects and linear outline is inherited from the Japanese prints van Gogh studied. Brilliant yellow, his favourite colour, in the background, is intensified by its complementary purple in her dress. *963 van Gogh STARRY NIGHT 1889 Museum of Modern Art, New York. In van Gogh's later life, alternating bouts of depression and exhilaration over the possibilities of expressing nature in the new style dominated his paintings. Here the night is captured as a living swirling being, brushstrokes thick and emotionally expressive. *942 van Gogh CYPRESS 1890 Kroller Muller State Museum, Otterlo. To van Gogh, light was more than a phenomena of nature and vehicle for the heightening of colour. Light was life itself and colour was feeling. The artist's brush was his tool to bring these elements to the canvas so vigorously as it seems to writhe with life itself. Cypresses represented life's struggle for man: against the elements, against all odds, the cypress stands erect. #GAUGUIN 1848-1903 Paul Gauguin, another Post Impressionist, reacted both against the abstract developments of Cezanne and Monet and the sophisticated Naturalism of Degas. His solution is the world of the exotic, the pure in nature, the primitive and unspoiled. Hence his choice of Tahitian life as a strong contrast to Europe. He used strong harsh colours, flat areas of colour, simplified forms, and unusual perspectives to highlight the purity of emotions of the primitive world as opposed to 20th Century art. *949 Gauguin WHY ARE YOU ANGRY? 1891 Art Institute, Chicago. Gauguin found peace of mind living with the natives of Tahiti. This painting conveys this tranquillity: a surprisingly open composition for Gauguin without symbolic references or religious overtones. The distinct strong colouring and outlining of his figures are typical of Gauguin's works. *950 Gauguin DAY OF THE GOD 1894 Art Institute, Chicago. This painting was produced in Gauguin's studio in France. The artist used Tahitian life and creeds, which he longed to return to, to express the peace and timelessness in flat planes of strong colours. The portrayal of the profiles of the two natives on the left is reminiscent of Egyptian Art. *951 Gauguin YELLOW CHRIST 1889 Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo. In this painting Gauguin presents a crudely carved crucifix around which peasant women, in ethnic costumes, kneel. In the background is a landscape of rounded trees and hills, presented in flat planes of brilliant colour crudely outlined. The figure of Christ is in primitive Romanesque style and was based on a small yellow wooden statue he saw in a chapel of Pont-Aven. *952 Gauguin SELF PORTRAIT 1897 Jeu de Paume, Paris. Gauguin experimented with different styles in his self-portraits. This painting was a homage of Cezanne in his style. It is one of his last portraits, painted on the Marquesas Islands. *953 Gauguin BREASTS AND RED FLOWERS 1899 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Painted in his final years this work reflects Gauguin's search for purity in women. He had married Eve, a native 13-year-old, who is painted here. The colours are usually soft and mellow. *954 Gauguin TROPICAL VEGETATION 1887 National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh. In 1887 Gauguin travelled to Martinique in the West Indies where he produced a number of important paintings. Simplifying his forms using bolder colours, he expressed his excitement at this new clear and lucid expression. The influence of Cezanne is still apparent in his brushstrokes. *955 Gauguin MARIE DARRIEN 1890 Art Institute, Chicago. Painted in Paris after his time in Brittany, this portrait reminds us again of the importance of Cezanne to Gauguin. The brushstrokes and the still-life in the background, are based on Cezanne's experiments, though clearly marked with Gauguin's style of outlining his forms. #SEURAT 1859-1891 Georges Seurat, an Impressionist painter, used mathematical and physical theories about light in his approach to painting. Colour to the eye was to be made of dots of totally contrasting colours synthesized by the eye. He was labelled a pointillist, dense points of paint create forms rather than brushstrokes themselves. Different forms are created by the linear style - he used outlining for clarity. Seurat was part of general trend of Impressionist movement, often seen as not fully in the movement. However, his choice of plain subject matter of ordinary Parisienne life and refusal to adjust painting style to fit public taste made his works part of the revolution in art. *956 Seurat BATHING AT ASNIERES 1883 National Gallery, London. Seurat made 20 studies for this work - his first major painting. In his passion for perfection he aimed to replace the monumentality which the Impressionists had chosen to put aside. Yet he continued to study the fractured effects of light on water and other surfaces. For this work he turned to the subject matter of the daily life around him. *957 Seurat SUNDAY AFTERNOON 1884 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Entitled 'Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte', Seurat, in his colouring, used the Impressionist's palette of primary colours and the ochres but no black. Measuring 6 by 12 feet, this painting took two years to complete. Forms and figures are reduced to silhouettes and painted in strict composition using the pointillist technique: dot-by-dot, the artist applied his colours in complementary and contrasting combinations. When viewed from a distance these dots blend to construct secondary and tertiary colours. This painting bridged the gap between Impressionism and Post Impressionism. *958 Seurat LA MARIA 1886 National Gallery, Prague. This work demonstrates the pointillist experiment with colours built up by points rather than line strokes as well as the plain subject matter, chosen by Impressionists. *959 Seurat THE CIRCUS 1891 Jeu de Parme, Paris. This lively scene was left unfinished when Seurat died at 32. Capturing the gaiety of the circus without attempting the realism of the past, Seurat creates deliberate artificiality in this scene. Inspired by circus posters the pointillist dot-by-dot technique creates textures, not only on the canvas, but also on the border around it and the frame, which he directly constructed. #WHISTLER 1834-1903 An American, James Whistler, although not strictly an Impressionist, was associated with the movement. He spent most his life in London. His aim was to draw complete attention to compositional elements of light and colour while giving his subjects an unfinished look. This brought him into a famous debate about art with Ruskin who vilified his work. A famous trial resulted, in which Whistler was awarded compensation of 5c. *960 Whistler ARRANGEMENT IN GREY AND BLACK 1871 Louvre, Paris. This painting of Whistler's mother created the great controversial battle about art between himself and Ruskin. To Whistler, the subject did not matter but in the way it was translated into colour and form. The subject is flattened to make shape alone. The background patterning reflects the high interest in Japanese style and design. The simplicity of the work is created by 4 rectangular planes as well as a framed print.