END OF THE 19TH CENTURY & BEGINNING OF
THE 20TH CENTURY MODERN ART
IMPRESSIONISM
1860s - 1900s
BACKGROUND TO THE IMPRESSIONIST
PERIOD
• Began in the 1860s
• Centered in Paris around a loose collective of artists/friends
• Term “impressionists” coined as an insult of the painter Claude
Monet’s Impression – Sunrise (1872)
• Argued that their paintings were just “impressions” or sketches,
not real paintings
• Impressionist style spread to music and literature as well as visual
arts
• Beginning of modern art?
• Incredibly popular today
• 6 of 10 most expensive paintings are Impressionist or PostImpressionist painters
A CRITIC OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS
• “Impression — I was certain of it. I was just
telling myself that, since I was impressed, there
had to be some impression in it … and what
freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper
in its embryonic state is more finished than that
seascape.”
BACKGROUND TO THE IMPRESSIONIST
PERIOD
• Impressionists were rebels
• Napoleon III’s Academie des Beaux-Arts controlled the
world of French painting (both content and style)
• They wanted historical/religious themes, realistic depictions and
portraits
• Each year it held a salon
• The rebellious painters were rejected each year
• Eventually they were allowed to have their own salon
(salon des refuses) in 1863
• Afterwards they were further rejected, so by 1873 they
started their own “society”
CHARACTERISTICS OF IMPRESSIONIST ART
• Broad quick brush strokes (to capture the “essence” of
the subject)
• Emphasized overall “impression” of the scene rather
than specific details
• Examined the effect of light and color on a scene
• Painted landscapes
• Painted candid portraits and depictions of regular life
• Emphasized spontaneity, bright color, and light
CHARACTERISTICS OF IMPRESSIONIST ART
• Mix wet paint together to create shadows, greys
• Otherwise, very little mixing of colors (The blending is in
the eye of the viewer)
• Opaque surfaces to the painting
• Paint at different times of day (including evening)
• No harsh lines
• Emphasize natural light
• Naturalistic scenes of everyday life, people and
landscapes
CHARACTERISTICS OF IMPRESSIONIST ART
• Impressionist style was not “brand new”
• Just anti-establishment
• NOTE: Impressionism was not a rebellion against photographic
“realism”. Impressionists were inspired by photography
• Wanted to capture intimate day-to-day moments in life
• They explored what photography lacked (i.e. color)
• Spiritual forefathers include:
•
•
•
•
•
Diego Velasquez
Peter Paul Rubens
J.M.W. Turner
Eugene Delacroix
Gustave Courbet
“PURE”
IMPRESSIONISTS
CAMILLE PISSARRO
(1830 - 1903)
CAMILLE PISSARRO
• “Father” of the impressionists
• Rebelled against the Salons in France
• Great supporter of younger artists like Cezanne, Gaugin
and Seurat, even post-impressionists like Henri Matisse
• Saw his painting as a continued expression of freedom
vs. control of government, society
• Hard to categorize his art into neat chronologies (early,
middle, late)
NORWOOD (1871)
THE RAINBOW (1877)
HOARFROST (1877)
PEASANT GIRL DRINKING HER COFFEE (1881)
BOULEVARD MONTMARTRE, NIGHT (1897)
BOULEVARD MONTMARTRE, RAINY (1897)
BOULEVARD MONTMARTRE, AFTERNOON (1897)
CLAUDE MONET
(1840 – 1926)
CLAUDE MONET
• Perhaps the most famous impressionist painter
• “pure” impressionist who moved the art style forward
into the 1900s
• Famous for painting the same scene at different times of
day or seasons
• Most famous for his “water lily” paintings
THE BODMER OAK, FONTAINEBLEU FOREST (1865)
HAYSTACKS AT SUNRISE (1865)
GARDEN AT SAINTE ADRESSE (1867)
THE MAGPIE (1869)
THE BEACH AT TROUVILLE (1870)
GARE ST. LAZARE (1877)
THE STROLL, CAMILLE MONET AND HER SON JEAN
(1875)
THE CLIFFS AT ERETAT (1885)
WHEATSTACKS (END OF SUMMER) (1890-91)
BRIDGE OVER A POND OF WATER LILIES (1899)
HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, SUNSET (1904)
WATER LILIES (THE CLOUDS) (1903)
WATER LILIES (1907)
WATER LILIES (1916)
PIERRE-AUGUST RENOIR
(1841 – 1919)
PIERRE-AUGUST RENOIR
• Worked closely with Monet throughout the
1880s
• Lots of paintings of modernized Paris
• Scenes of middle-class leisure
• Painted lots of nudes
NINI IN THE GARDEN (1875 – 76)
DANCE AT LE MOULIN LA GALETTE(1876)
GYPSY GIRL (1879)
LUNCHEON OF THE BOATING PARTY (1881)
ON THE TERRACE (1881)
OTHER
IMPRESSIONISTS
EDOUARD MANET
(1832 - 1883)
EDOUARD MANET
• Never regarded himself as an impressionist
• His early nudes shocked critics
• “Who’s for lunch?” - about Luncheon in the
Grass (1863)
• His early paintings set the stage for
Impressionism
ABSINTHE DRINKER (1858)
LUNCHEON IN THE GRASS (1863)
OLYMPIA (1863)
THE EXECUTION OF THE EMPEROR
MAXIMILIAN (1868)
A BAR AT THE FOLIES-BERGERES (1881 - 82)
EDGAR DEGAS
(1834 - 1917)
EDGAR DEGAS
• Hated the term “impressionist”
• Most famous for his paintings of dancers
• Made art out of scenes/subjects that had never
been made art before
• Yet borrowed many themes/subjects from
earlier artists
• Quote: “We were created to look at one another,
weren’t we?”
INTERIOR (THE RAPE) (1868)
MUSICIANS IN THE ORCHESTRA (1872)
THE DANCE CLASS (1873 - 76)
DANCE SCHOOL (1874)
THE STAR OF THE DANCE (1876)
L’ABSINTHE (1876)
BALLET DANCERS IN THE WINGS (1900)
AT THE STOCK EXCHANGE (1879)
An example of Anti-Semitic painting in the late 19th century
LITTLE DANCER OF FOURTEEN YEARS
(SCULPTURE)
POST-IMPRESSIONISM
1890s - 1920s
BACKGROUND TO POST-IMPRESSIONISM
• Refers generally to styles following Impresionism
• Paved the way for 20th century artists
• While they followed the Impressionists, in some
ways they rejected the Impressionist’s style
• Impressionism was too “naturalistic and
casual”
• They sought a more effective way to convey
emotion in art
PAUL CEZANNE
(1839 - 1906)
PAUL CEZANNE
• Transition painter between Impressionism and
Post-Impressionism
• Laid foundations for 20 th century painting
THE BLUE VASE (1883 - 1887)
THE CARD PLAYERS (1890 - 92)
WOMAN WITH A COFFEE POT (1895)
RIDEAU, CRUCHON ET COMPOTIER (1893 -94)
SEATED PEASANT (1895 - 1900)
STILL LIFE WITH SKULL (1895 - 1900)
TABLE, NAPKIN AND FRUIT (1895 - 1900)
ROAD BEFORE THE MOUNTAINS (1898 - 1902)
CHATEAU NOIR (1900 - 1904)
VINCENT VAN GOGH
(1853 - 1890)
VINCENT VAN GOGH
•
Dutch painter who moved to Paris in 1886
•
Impression influenced his style early
•
He took his style in a direction of pure expression of color, brushstrokes
•
His paintings literally leave a texture on the canvas
•
Wanted to use his painting to “say something comforting in the way that music
is comforting”
•
Only sold 1 work during his life ( Red Vineyard)
•
One of the most influential artists to 20 th century art
• Influenced Fauvism, Expressionism
VAN GOGH’S DEPRESSION
• Depressed much of his life
• Yellow tinge to many later paintings
• Halo effect?
• Many medical suggestions as to his ailments
• Lead poisoning
• Absinthe
• Schizophrenia, epilepsy, bipolar disorder, etc.
• Cut off his left ear during a seizure (or perhaps after an argument
with Paul Gaugin) in 1888
• Killed himself in 1890
•
•
•
•
Walked into a field and shot himself in the chest with a revolver
Did not realize the wound was fatal and walked away
Died two days later
Last recorded words: “the sadness will last forever”
SELF PORTRAIT WITH DARK FELT HAT (1886)
THE RED VINEYARD (1888)
POET’S GARDEN (1888)
CAFE AT NIGHT (1888)
STARRY NIGHT OVER THE RHONE (1888)
VASE WITH SUNFLOWERS (1888)
VINCENT’S BEDROOM AT ARLES (1889)
STARRY NIGHT (1889)
SELF PORTRAIT WITHOUT BEARD (1889)
IRISES (1889)
SELF PORTRAIT WITH BANDAGED EAR (1889)
WHEAT FIELD WITH CROWS (1890)
THE CHURCH AT AUVERS (1890)
PORTRAIT OF DR. GACHET (1890)
Sold for $82,500,000 in 1996
PAUL GAUGUIN
(1848 - 1903)
PAUL GAUGUIN
• Grandson of socialist leader Flora
Tristan
• Was not always a painter
• Mentored by Pissarro
THE VISION AFTER THE SERMON (1888)
BLUE TREES (1888)
BRETON GIRLS DANCING (1888)
VAN GOGH PAINTING SUNFLOWERS (1888)
WHERE DO WE COME FROM? WHAT ARE WE?
WHERE ARE WE GOING? (1897)
GEORGES SEURAT
(1864 - 1901)
GEORGES SEURAT
• Style = pointilism
• Seen as too limited by other artists
SUNDAY AFTERNOON ON THE ISLAND OF LA GRAND
JATTE (1884 - 86)
DETAIL OF LA PARADE (1889)
HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC
(1864 - 1901)
HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC
• Broke both legs when an adolescent
• Stunted growth to only 4 ½ feet tall
• Lived and worked in the Montmartre section of Paris
• Writers, poets, painters living the “bohemian” style
• Toulouse-Lautrec loved to paint that world of dance
halls, drinking and women
• Drank himself to death in 1901
DANCE AT THE MOULIN ROUGE (1890)
MOULIN ROUGE ADVERTISEMENT (1891)
IN BED (1893)
ALONE (1896)
LA TOILETTE (1896)
AT THE MOULIN ROUGE (C. 1890-95)
MODERN ART AND THE TOP 10 MOST
EXPENSIVE PAINTINGS (2006)
2. Adele Bloch-Bauer I, Klimt (135,000,000)
5. Portrait of Dr. Gachet, van Gogh (82,500,000)
6. La Bassin aux Nympheas, Monet (80, 500,000)
7. Bal au Moulin de la Gallette, Renoir (78,000,000)
9. Portrait of the Artist without Beard , van Gogh
(71,500,000)
10. Ridon, Cruchon et Compotier, Cezanne
(60,500,000)
EXPRESSIONISM
EXPRESSIONISM
• Indebted to Freud
• Art tries to penetrate the façade of bourgeois superficiality and
probe the psyche—that which lurks beneath an individual’s calm
and artificial posture
• Paintings illustrated the artist’s state of mind rather than the
material world
CHARACTERISTICS OF EXPRESSIONISM
• Subliminal anxiety
• Dissonance in color and perspective
• Pictorial violence—manifest* and
latent**
• *Manifest (adj) readily perceived by the eye or the understanding; evident; obvious;
plain
• **Latent (adj) present or potential but not visible, apparent, or realized
Edvard Munch
The Scream
1893
Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner
Street Scene with
a Cocotte in Red
1914
Oskar Kokoschka, The Tempest, 1914
Max
Beckmann
The Night
1918-1919
SURREALISM
SURREALISM
• Also indebted to Freud
• Explores the dream world, a world without logic,
reason, or meaning
• Fascination with mystery, the strange encounters
between objects, and incongruity
• Subjects are often indecipherable in their strangeness
• The beautiful is the quality of chance association
CHARACTERISTICS OF SURREALISM
• The dream sequence
• Illogic
• Fantasy
Giorgio de
Chirico
The
Vexations of
the Thinker
Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory
Salvador Dali,
The Face of War
Max Ernst
Two
Children are
Menaced by
a
Nightingale
Joan Miró, Dog Barking at the Moon
Marc
Chagall
Self-portrait
with Seven
Fingers
1913
CUBISM
• No single point of view
• No continuity or simultaneity of image
contour
• All possible views to top, sides, front, and
back
• Picture becomes a multifaceted view of
objects with angular, interlocking planes
CHARACTERISTICS OF CUBISM
• A new way of seeing
• A view of the world as a mosaic of
multiple relationships
• Reality as interaction
Pablo
Picasso
Les
Demoiselles
d’Avignon
1905?
Pablo Picasso, Paysage Mediterraneen
Georges Braque, The Table
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
• Nonrepresentational art
• No climaxes
• Flattened-out planes; and values
• The real appearance of forms in nature is
subordinated to an aesthetic concept of
form composed of shapes, lines and colors
CHARACTERISTICS OF ABSTRACT
EXPRESSIONISM
• Personal and subjective
interpretation
• “you see what you want to…”
Henry Moore, Reclining Figure 1977
Alberto
Giacometti
Man Pointing
1947
(Bronze
sculpture)
Mark
Rothko
Ochre on
Red
1954
Jackson Pollock, Stenographic Figure, 1942
REFERENCES/SOURCES
•
Nearly all pictures are from
• “Mark Harden’s Artchive” --http://www.artchive.com/