Impressionism
Impressionism Art Characteristics
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Concerned with perception of optical
sensations of light and color
No sharp edges
Minimal defined lines
Form and space are implied not defined
Intense color and use of light
Impressionist Art
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Impression: Sunrise
1872
Paris, France
Painting
Artist: Claude Monet
Painting which gave the name
to the new movement
Impressionism was meant as
an insult as it stated that the
artists could only make an
impression of the scene
Large brushstrokes and no
definitive lines
Impressionist Art
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Haystacks at Giverny (end of
summer, morning)
1891
Giverny, France
Painting
Artist: Monet
Monet painted the same
subjects over and over again
at different times of day and in
different seasons to show how
light effected it
His brushstrokes were
deliberately fuzzy to create the
impression of the subject
The focus of his work was light
He painted outdoors and did
not mix his colors on the
palette, but rather on the
painting
Rouen Cathedral
1892-95
Rouen, France
Painting
Claude Monet
Different times of day allowed different light – this
is 3 separate paintings in a series of many
Snow Effect at Eragny, Road to Gisors
1885
Paris, France
Camille Pissarro
Amongst the giants, Pisarro is often forgotten
for his contributions to Impressionist
movement
He lived very close to where he painted
Impressionist Art
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Dance at the Moulin de la
Galette
1876
Paris, France
Painting
Artist: Renoir
Impressionists often depicted
pleasant places where people
congregated to have fun
In Renoir, the weather is
always good and the men and
women always attractive
His goal was to capture the
mood of the event with color
and light
A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
1882
Paris, France
Painting
Edouard Manet
Manet has completely gone impressionist by
this point in his career – the unique
perspective of the mirror adds mystery to this
painting
Impressionist Art
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Summer’s Day
1879
Paris, France
Painting
Artist: Berthe Morisot
Probably the most daring of all
the Impressionists as her
brushwork was the loosest
Some of the subjects in the
painting are nearly
unrecognizable
Her artwork was critiqued for
being too feminine (to many
scenes of women and children)
Impressionist Art
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The Dancing Class
1874
Paris, France
Painting
Artist: Edgar Degas
Painted in a style called linear
impressionism (use of more clear
lines)
Famous for his depictions of ballet
dancers
A behind the scenes look
capturing the dancers in relaxed
mode or stretching, certainly not
at their best or most graceful
Degas created a space where the
walls are not parallel with the
viewer
Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer
1879-81
Paris, France
Artist: Edgar Degas
bronze, paint, tulle, satin, wood
Degas barely dabbled with sculpture although he kept the
ballerina theme when he did
Impressionist Art
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The Boating Party
1893 – 1894
Paris, France
Artist: Mary Cassatt
Painting
The best known American
Impressionist; she moved to
Paris to paint
Part of early critique of this
work was the apparent
‘rudeness’ of the man in the
boat who has turned his
back to us
The central figure is the
baby (the man’s arm, the
oar and the boat all point
there)
Little Girl in a Blue Armchair
1878
Paris, France
Painting
Mary Cassatt
Cassatt’s focus on feminine subjects caused
her to be dismissed as frivolous
The Bath
ca. 1892
Paris, France
Painting
Mary Cassatt
Preferred asymmetrical un-posed
compositions
Her vantage point, from above shows her
interest in Japanese block paintings which
were all the rage in the late 19th century
Impressionist Art
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Arrangement in Black and
Gray: The Artist’s Mother
1871
London, England
Painting
Artist: James A.M. Whistler
An American ex-patriot who
moved to Paris and then
London
The work is known popularly
as Whistler’s Mother
A rather unemotional and
intellectual portrayal of the
subject is seen here
Whistler named all his
paintings in musical
terminology
Nocturne in Black and Gold
(The Falling Rocket)
ca. 1875
London, England
Painting
James A.M. Whistler
Here, Whistler is much more impressionistic
and abstract
Fin de Siecle Art
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Eiffel Tower
1889
Paris, France
Architecture
Artist: Gustave Eiffel
At the time the tallest
structure in the world at 984
feet tall
Foreshadows the skyscrapers
of the 20th century
Used as a radio tower, now a
cell phone tower
Many Parisians still hate the
structure, yet it has still come
to represent France
Post-Impressionism Characteristics
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Post Impressionism is the retrospective label given to
the work of Cezanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh and Georges
Seurat, who were painting in the final years of the
nineteenth century. These men never formed a
definitive school of painting but now it is possible to see
that they were seeking similar aims: (characteristics)
(1) Celebration of visual images not for their
verisimilitude to nature, but as equivalents for nature in
their own right
(2) Celebration of the application of paint on to the
canvas for its creative abilities
Post-Impressionist Art
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Mount Sainte-Victoire
from the Large Pine Tree
1885 – 1887
Aix-en-Provence Region,
France
Painting
Artist: Paul Cezanne
Cezanne preferred
landscapes and still life
Cezanne shows depth by
working on planes rather
than using linear
perspective
Post-Impressionist Art
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Still Life with Peppermint
Bottle
1894
Paris, France
Painting
Artist: Cezanne
He often combined
unrelated objects into his
still life paintings
Disregard for perspective
was intentional
Pointillism
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Sunday Afternoon on La
Grande Jatte
1884 – 1886
Painting
Paris, France
Artist: Georges Seurat
Pointillism - Painting with tiny
dots to create a complete
figure from a distance
The closer you get the more it
starts to blur and eventually
become indistinguishable
Post-Impressionist/ Expressionist
Art
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The Night Café
1888
Arles, France
Painting
Artist: Vincent van Gogh
Born in Holland, he
mover first to Antwerp
then to Paris and
eventually to Arles
Bright colors record van
Gogh’s own personal
feelings
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Post-Impressionist/ Expressionist
Starry Night
Art
1889
St-Remy, France
Painting
Artist: Van Gogh
Intentional loose form not
rushed and painted
Appears spontaneous,
thick strokes, blobs of
color
Was preplanned from
sketches however
His most reproduced
work
Post-Impressionist/ Symbolist Art
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Manao Tupapau (Spirit of
the Dead Watching)
1892
Tahiti
Painting
Artist: Paul Gauguin
Artist attempted to show
fear by use of somber
and sad colors
Symbolism – the attempt
to give concrete form to
abstract ideas
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
1897
Tahiti
Painting
Paul Gauguin
Painting should be enjoyed from right to left
Gauguin claimed once he finished this painting he would commit suicide (he attempted)
Post-Impressionist Art
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The Thinker
1879 – 1889
Paris, France
Sculpture
Artist: Auguste Rodin
Rodin used broken surfaces to
create a similar unfinished
effect that reflected light like
the painting of the
Impressionists
His most famous work
Note how the feet almost grip
the stone
Originally sculpted as part of a
grand monument that was
never built in tribute to Dante’s
Inferno
Post-Impressionist Art
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The Kiss
1886 – 1898
Paris, France
Sculpture
Artist: Rodin
Left lower part unfinished as a contrast
to the softness and
warmth of their
bodies
The Sleeping Gypsy
1897
Paris, France
Painting
Artist: Henri Rousseau
New style of modern naturalism called the
Naïve School
Naïve Art - characterized by a childlike
simplicity in its subject matter and technique
Turn of the Century American Art
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Wainwright Building
1890 – 1891
St. Louis, Missouri
Architecture
Artist: Louis Sullivan
It had an underlying
steel skeleton and
bricks were placed as
the ‘skin’
‘form follows function’
Art Nouveau
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Staircase, Dr. Tassel’s
Home
1893
Brussels, Belgium
Architecture
Artist: Victor Horta
Horta put nature into all
his work
He designed the entire
home to give it a sense of
unity
Art Nouveau
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Casa Mila
1905 – 1907
Barcelona, Spain
Architecture
Artist: Antoni Gaudi
A totally new style was created
by Gaudi
Curved lines are everywhere
Asymmetrical on purpose
Looks more like it was molded
from clay then built of stone
and steel
Balconies appear to be
mangled
Art Nouveau
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Sagrada Familia
Started 1882 – 2010?
Barcelona, Spain
Architecture
Artist: Antoni Gaudi
Still incomplete as he
died before finishing the
plans
Arguing for years how to
finish it
The Kiss
1907-1908
Vienna, Austria
Painting
Gustav Klimt
Part of Art Nouveau movement
Art Nouveau – called
“Jugendstil” in Germany and
“Stile Liberty” in Italy it is
characterized by organic,
especially floral and other
plant-inspired motifs, as well as
highly-stylized, flowing
curvilinear forms
Fauvism
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Woman with a Hat
1905
Paris, France
Painting
Artist: Henri Matisse
Fauvism tended to shock
the viewer
Colors appear arbitrary,
placed mish mash around
the painting for no reason
It is his wife
Fauvism – French for ‘wild
beasts’ it is characterized by
strong use of color and antirealism
Fauvism
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Harmony in Red
1908 – 1909
Paris, France
Painting
Artist: Matisse
Everyday scene full of
patterns, lines, and
harmony between the
colors
Parts are 2 dimensional
while others are 3D
Cubist Art
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Gertrude Stein
1906
Paris, France
Painting
Artist: Pablo Picasso
Considered most important
painter of the 20th century
Simplified forms into basic
shapes
Painted her face from memory
– making this a cerebral not
retina-based painting
Not truly a cubist yet
Cubist Art
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Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
1907
Barcelona, Spain
Painting
Artist: Picasso
Demoiselles here means
prostitutes not young ladies
Freed from reality, Picasso
worked with distorted figures
and proportions in favor of
shapes and angular pieces
Cubism - objects are broken
up, analyzed, and reassembled in an abstracted
form—instead of depicting
objects from one viewpoint,
the artist depicts the subject
from a multitude of viewpoints
Cubist Art
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Still Life with Chair Caning
1912
Paris, France
Mixed Media
Artist: Picasso
Picasso began to paste real
materials onto the canvas,
here he chose a rope with a
piece of oilcloth with imitation
chair caning on it and a
fragment of newspaper
Jou are the 1st 3 letters of
journal (the newspaper used)
but they are also the 1st 3
letters of jouer – to play
Method was called collage
Cubist Art
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The Portuguese
1911
Paris, France
Painting
Artist: Georges Braque
Depicts a guitarist playing at a
café
There is, however, no truly
distinguishable figure here
Forms are broken down into
cubes and portrayed at
different angles even
Range of color was restricted
to focus on style
Futurist Art
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Suburban Train Arriving at Paris
1915
Italy
Painting
Artist: Gino Severino
Depiction of speed in a sequence
of multi-faceted positions;
fragmented but focused
Futurists wanted to destroy art
museums and anything old
Futurism – admired speed,
technology, youth and violence,
the car, the airplane and the
industrial city, all that represented
the technological triumph of
humanity over nature, and they
were passionate nationalists
German Expressionist Art
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Dancing Around the Golden Calf
1910
Dresden, Germany
Painting
Artist: Emil Nolde
Influenced by Fauvism and
Matisse, Nolde’s use of bright
colors to convey meaning can be
seen here
Biblical subject being shown in
sexual manner was controversial
Colors help convey sexuality, fury
and ecstasy of this piece
Expressionism - Its typical trait is
to present the world under an
utterly subjective perspective,
violently distorting it to obtain an
emotional effect and vividly
transmit personal moods and
ideas
The Scream
1893
Norway
Painting
Artist:Edvard Munch
Expressionism develops throughout Europe
travelling even to Scandanavia
The Scream is said to represent man’s
hopelessness in his struggle against nature
German Expressionist Art
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Improvisation No. 30
(Warlike Theme)
1913
Munich, Germany
Painting
Artist: Vassily Kandinsky
He believed colors caused
‘vibrations in the soul’
Shows cannons firing to
welcome the 2nd coming
of Christ to Moscow
The end . . .
Next lecture . . .
Modern & Post-Modern