Cultural History
Sister Wendy Impressions of Light (Gardner’s Chapter 12)
Video Questions
1870 Paris—Impressionists: Spontaneous and Unpolished
1. What does Wendy mean by “they (the Impressionists) are a watershed”?
2. Which artist and what piece caused the Impressionist Movement? (Gardner p.350)
3. Describe this piece.
4. Where did the Impressionists paint?
5. What did they want to catch? Give an example from a painting.
Claud Monet
6. Why did Cezanne say that Monet saw things no one else had? What did he see?
7. Describe the water lilies as you think Monet saw them in Giverney (Reflections of Clouds on the
Water-Lily Pond, c. 1920, 200 × 1,276 cm (78.74 × 502.36 in), oil on canvas, Museum of Modern
Art, New York City)
Pierre-Auguste Renior
8. What does Sister Wendy note about Renior’s Boating Party?
9. How is this painting autobiographical?
Women: Berthe Morisot; Mary Cassatt
10. What did Degas say about Mary Cassatt and how does this statement reflect the times?
Degas
11. What does Wendy mean by saying that Degas was a voyeur? How does she suggest Degas sees
women? What animals depict the ballet dancers and how does the one male in the picture
appear?
George Seurat
12. What is pointilism? (p. 362)
13. How does he create “poetry” out of fat lady powdering herself?
14. What was underneath the flowers at the top?
1889: Universal Exhibition in Paris
Paul Gaugin (p. 361)
Life (South Seas) intertwined with paintings
15. What is the title of the painting Wendy describes and how does it relate to Edgar Allen Poe?
16. How is this painting autobiographical?
Vincent Van Gogh (p. 360)
17. He was set to become a minister but did not. Why?
18. Describe the church he paints. Why was there no door?