How were Impressionist paintings different from Romantic Paintings:
1. They were not exactly realistic looking. Impressionists were not competing with photography.
2. The focus of Impressionist art is to record the transient effect of light and color on what we see.
3. Painters used quick, unblended brushstrokes to capture a fleeting image of changing light on objects. They preferred to paint out of doors in natural light using pure color.
2. Compared with Romantic art the work of Impressionists looked unfinished, lacking in detail.
3. Impressionist art does not capture dramatic moments in nature or human lives. The work is peaceful, gentle, soft looking.
What traditions did the Impressionists retain?
1. They kept some classical elements; soft-blended skin tones, shading.
What was the effect of the changes the Impressionists made in painting?
1. Their paintings appear to be a blurred version of something we know has more detail, greater definition.
2. Their paintings are unique objects, an image of what you might see as you look out out the window on a moving train. Monet painted in series, setting up a line of canvases in the same area, then moving from one as the light changed.
Impressionists investigated the nature of visual reality by focusing on the light that touched, reflected, filtered through, highlighted objects. There was an understanding of the physiology of sight and the laws of optics, which gave control over what was seen to the eye that was doing the looking: the eye of the beholder. These painters noted that in the fast pace of life, what is seen is not a frozen, clear moment but a fleeting image as life is in constant motion. They concentrated on the way light plays over everything, washing over and breaking up things that we think of as solid surfaces. They stressed the contrasts between colors seen in sunlight and those in shade, investigating light as the primary element in vision.
In France, where this movement flowered, art had followed academic rules in order to be shown at prestigious state controlled exhibits. In 1847 Monet and a number of others painting in this new style were refused admission to that years exhibit. A separate showing was arranged by "the refused ones" where one of the pictures, by Monet, titled "Impression: Sunrise" was severely crtiticized by a reviewer who called them all Impressionists, something he intended as a put-down. The artists accepted the label for their style of art.
The First Impressionist Exhibit
Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir
What happened next?
During the late 1800's Sigmund Freud drew attention to mental health in his papers on aspects of psychoanalysis. Karl Jung focused his work on the collective unconscious. Some artists turned away from nature and began to manipulate the elements of producing a painting to show greater expression; into psychological representation of reality.
How were Post-Impressionist paintings different from Impressionist paintings?
1. The color is not naturalistic; they aren't painting the effects of light.
2. Colors are bright, edges of objects are outlined, brushwork is expressive.
3. People are painted in unusual colors, with distorted figures.
4. Their is less attempt at the illusion of depth.
5. Artists have personal styles and experiment with their painting materials.
The Van Gogh Gallery
Georges Seurat
Henri Toulouse-Lautrec
20th Century art: Impressionism-Pop Art