Impressionism and Post-Impressionism Art
Born in 1832 in France, Manet originally wanted to be a naval officer; but after failing the entrance exam twice, he became an artist instead. After his paintings were brutalized…
Edouard Manet (1832-1883)
Born in 1832 in France, Manet originally wanted to be a naval officer; but after failing the entrance exam twice, he became an artist instead. After his paintings were brutalized in French papers, he moved to Spain. His works were decidedly modern. While he stated that he had no intentions of overthrowing current styles or creating some grand new era of art, his paintings offered a foothold that other modern painters used to explore the new style.[1]
Manet’s last major work, A Bar at the Folies Bergere, still sparks controversy today. The bar was a notorious place to find prostitutes; the Persians were unsettled by the inability to tell if the subject of the painting was a common barmaid or a prostitute.[2] The women’s face is unreadable and has a complex emotion that changes each time it is viewed. The painting communicates terrible uncertainty. The reflection is deliberately distorted, classes are mixed in the background, and we are unsure of our relationship to either the women or the painting.[3]
A Bar at the Folies Bergere, Edouard Manet. [4]
Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
Even though he is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionist art, Degas rejected the term, preferring to see himself as a realist. His works focused on the human aspect, specifically dance, for which he had a lifelong admiration. The Bellelli Family is a wonderful study in tension and dynamics. The Bellelli Family consists of Degas’s father's sister (Laure), with her husband (the baron Bellelli), and their two daughters, Giula and Giovanna. Displaying impressive stoicism, Laure mourns the death of her father while Baron Bellelli seems aloof and unconcerned. The children are seven and ten; on the right, the youngest seems to be trying to escape from the bonds of formality and responsibility while the eldest is already captured by the weight of the world.[5]
The Bellelli Family, Degas. [6]
Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
An important figure in the Impressionist Movement, Renoir sought to display the viewer's first impression upon seeing an object.[7] Luncheon of the Boating Party captures the changing Paris society, as many different types of classes are represented. The work is designed to present an idealized view of French society as Renoir observed it.[8]
Luncheon of the Boating Party, Renoir. [9]
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
An American artist, Whistler was famous for his loud verbal and legal retaliation to those who criticized his work. He was a forerunner of abstract art, moving away from a clear narrative and defined story to something more open to interpretation. “Art for art’s sake” as Whistler famously said.[10] Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket is one painting that epitomizes Whistler’s abstract tastes. Painted in loving, almost wistful, and whimsical strokes, the picture depicts a firework exploding over a body of water. While some saw his painting as reckless and ugly, others found it liberating that there was a lack of a cohesive narrative, as it allowed the viewer to engage in the creative process.[11]
Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, Whistler. [12]
Paul Cezanne (1839-1906)
French painter Cezanne had one of the most varied painting styles in his era. He formed the bridge between the Impressionists and the supporters of Cubism. His work is very distinct and highly recognizable, the most famous being his painting of Mont Sainte-Victoire. Completed in 1904, the painting is of Mont Sainte-Victoire in the Aix-en-Provence of France, which would become a major theme of his work over the course of his life. The painting and style were varied enough that they combined elements of Impressionism with the ideal from Cubism to make an ordinary object extraordinary.[13]
Mont Sainte-Victoire, Cézanne. [14]
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
A leading member of the Impressionists, Monet was a passionate landscape artist whose work was used to name the entire Impressionist movement.[15] The Rose Path, Giverny is almost hedonistic in its use of color. Monet was very particular about maintaining his garden; and this work shows the thunderously vibrant pull of nature constrained into a tunnel that seems to beckon the viewer deeper into nature’s embrace.
The Rose Path, Ginercy, Monet. [16]
Berthe Morisot (1841-1895)
Berthe Morisot was a successful artist in France who made essential contributions to the Impressionist Movement. She was famous for her ability to capture femininity and present it accessibly.[17] One of her most famous paintings, The Cradle, depicts Morisot's sister Edma gazing down at her daughter Blanche—the first time Morisot addressed motherhood in her works. The painting has two interlocking triangles between mother and child, lending harmony and a sense of connection between the two. Just as the child is veiled from the world, the mother’s thoughts and expressions are ambiguous to the viewer.[18]
The Cradle, Morisot. [19]
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)
Trained as an Impressionist, Gauguin broke away to found a new style of art called symbolism, playing with new colors and ideas as he traveled to other cultures in the South Pacific. His style marries observation, mythological symbolism, and artistic styles from indigenous peoples.[20] Nevermore was painted in 1897 in Tahiti and seems to communicate his ideal of the native Tahiti culture. He used the classic nude, adapted for this culture and place. The subject’s face and arms have more expression and independence than are traditionally found in European art. This figure is not flirtatious or there for the viewer’s pleasure.[21]
Nevermore, Gauguin. [22]
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
Born in the Netherlands, Van Gogh is widely regarded as one of the greatest artists to ever live. His vibrant colors and sympathetic brushwork lent his art a resounding quality that proved profoundly influential.[23] One of his most famous paintings, Starry Night, currently hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Starry Night is so unique because the painting shows the ebbs and flow of light, the stars seem to twinkle and shine. This is accomplished by taking advantage of two parts of the brain, one that smears similar colors together and one that doesn’t in order to produce a luminous effect.[24] The painting was made from memory while van Gogh was in the asylum at Saint-Rémy, where he had admitted himself after mutilating his own ear.[25]
Starry Night, Van Gogh. [26]
This video further expands on the similarities between Van Gogh’s work and turbulence.
John Singer Sargent (1853-1890)
Born in Florence, Sargent trained in Paris under his parents’ tutelage. He is widely regarded as one of the best portraitists of the 19th century. He was known for his Impressionist portraits. In many ways, Sargent was one of the last to capture the golden age of the European aristocracy that died with the advent of World War I.[27] Finished in 1882, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit depicts the four daughters of Edward Darley Boit, a wealthy Bostonian living in Paris. Each girl has a distinct stance and great individual personality. Sargent showing off his interest and mastery of light and shadow. Beautiful but also distressing in its unusual break from tradition, one of the girl’s faces is completely shadowed, the expression only viable in profile. The distance between the daughters and the space itself all lend to a quiet sense of unease.[28]
The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, Sargent. [29]
Georges Seurat (1856-1925)
Seurat delighted in showing people as they went about everyday activities. His paintings played with scale, deliberately misrepresenting some figures to draw the attention to a particular point, noting a return to primitivism.[30] He finished Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte in 1886, where it was a standout piece in the last impressionist exhibition and inspired critic Félix Fénéon to invent the name 'Neo-Impressionism.' The painting is comprised solely of dots, like pixels of color on a computer screen, allowing the viewer to blend colors as they see them rather than have them be blended on the canvas.[31]
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte, Seurat. [32]
Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)
Born to immigrant parents in Austria in 1862, Klimt had a childhood stricken with poverty. Despite this, he grew to become one of the prominent members of the Vienna Art Nouveau (Vienna Secession) Movement, which sought to found a new style of art focused on modernizing and escaping the tired, ecclesiastic themes that had dominated art for over a thousand years. The Kiss is Klimt’s blatant celebration of sexual love and it epitomizes both Klimt’s own golden phase and the style of Art Nouveau. He used fine colors and materials to communicate the preciousness of the subject as well as to invoke the feel of early medieval tapestries with halos around saints; the connection between the intimate and the holy is entirely intentional.[33]
The Kiss, Klimt. [34]
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“Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire.” Khan Academy. Accessed May 20, 2018. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/later-europe-and-americas/modernity-ap/a/czanne-mont-sainte-victoire.
Cézanne, Paul. Français : Mont Sainte-Victoire. 1904 1902. Oil on canvas, 2’3 1/2" x 2’11 1/4". Philadelphia Museum of Art. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_C%C3%A9zanne,_Mont_Sainte-Victoire.jpg.
Degas, Edgar, and Unknown. French: La Famille Bellelli. circa -1862 1860. Oil on canvas, 200 × 253 cm (78.7 × 99.6 in). Musée d’Orsay. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edgar_Degas_-_La_famille_Bellelli.JPG.
“Édouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.” The Courtauld Institute of Art. Accessed May 20, 2018. https://courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/collection/impressionism-post-impressionism/edouard-manet-a-bar-at-the-folies-bergere.
Gauguin, Nevermore. Accessed May 20, 2018. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/post-impressionism/v/paul-gauguin-nevermore-1897.
Gauguin, Paul. Nevermore. 1897. Oil on canvas, 50 × 116 cm (19.6 × 45.6 in). Courtauld Institute of Art. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_Gauguin_091.jpg.
“Georges Seurat Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story. Accessed May 20, 2018. http://www.theartstory.org/artist-seurat-georges.htm.
Gogh, Vincent van. Deutsch: Die SternennachtEnglish: The Starry NightEsperanto: Stela NoktoEspañol: La Noche EstrelladaFrançais : La Nuit ÉtoiléeРусский: Звёздная НочьSuomi: Tähtikirkas YöNederlands: De SterrennachtՀայերեն: Աստղալից Գիշեր. 1889. Oil on canvas, 73 × 92 cm (28.7 × 36.2 in). Museum of Modern Art. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VanGogh-starry_night_ballance1.jpg.
“Gustav Klimt Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works.” The Art Story. Accessed May 20, 2018. http://www.theartstory.org/artist-klimt-gustav.htm.
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Klimt, Gustav. The Kiss (Der Kuß). 1908 1907. Oil on canvas, 180 × 180 cm (70.8 × 70.8 in). Österreichische Galerie Belvedere. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Kiss_-Gustav_Klimt-_Google_Cultural_Institute.jpg.
“Luncheon of the Boating Party.” Accessed May 20, 2018. http://www.phillipscollection.org/collection/boating-party.
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Manet, Édouard. Deutsch: Bar in Den Folies-Bergère. 1882 1881. Oil on canvas, 96 × 130 cm (37.7 × 51.1 in). Courtauld Institute of Art. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edouard_Manet,_A_Bar_at_the_Folies-Berg%C3%A8re.jpg.
Morisot, Berthe. English: Le Berceau. 1872. Oil on canvas, Height: 560 mm (224 in); Width: 460 mm (18.11 in). Musée d’Orsay. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Berthe_Morisot_-The_Cradle-_Google_Art_Project.jpg.
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Renoir, Pierre-Auguste. Luncheon of the Boating Party. from until 1881 1880. Oil on canvas, Height: 1,302 mm (51.25 in); Width: 1,756 mm (69.13 in). The Phillips Collection. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pierre-Auguste_Renoir_-Luncheon_of_the_Boating_Party-_Google_Art_Project.jpg.
Sargent, John Singer. English: The Daughters of Edward Darley BoitDeutsch: Die Töchter BoitTürkçe: Edward Darley Boit’in KızlarıFrançais : Filles d’Edward Darley Boit. 1882. Oil on canvas, 221.9 × 222.5 cm (87.3 × 87.6 in). Museum of Fine Arts Boston. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Singer_Sargent_001.jpg.
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Seurat, Georges. A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. between and 1886 1884. Oil on canvas, 207.5 × 308.1 cm (81.6 × 121.2 in). Art Institute of Chicago. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Sunday_on_La_Grande_Jatte,_Georges_Seurat,_1884.jpg.
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