Early Impressionism

1862-1886

History

• The Academy (Salon) rules French art

• 1863, rejects Manet’s “Luncheon on the Grass,” as well as 3,000 of 5,000 paintings submitted to it.

• 1874, “The Salon of the Refused”

• Photography has made art “as historical documentation” unnecessary. Photos can now record visual history.

Paris Salon, 1824

Characteristics

• Obvious brushwork

• Thick, layered paint

• Impression of the fleeting moment

• Effect of light on subject

• Plein air painting

• Middle class subjects

Claude Monet, 1840-1926

• Subjects: landscapes, series of poppies, Rouen Cathedral, water lilies

• Style: the classic Impressionist look; dissolved form of subject into light & atmosphere; soft edges

Impression, Sunrise

Gare St. Lazare

Lily Pond, Giverny

Water-lilies

Edward Manet, 1832-1883

• Subjects: Updated classic scenes; painted contemporary scenes with a hard edge

• Style: flat color patches outlined in black

Dinner on the Grass

Olympia

Venus of Urbino, Titian

Bar at the Folies Bergere

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919

• Subjects: voluptuous, peach-skinned female nudes, café society, children, flowers

• Style: quick brush strokes, blurred figures blended into hazy background

Luncheon of the Boating Party

- Dance at the Moulin de La Galette

Nude Bathers

Edgar Degas, 1834-1917

• Subjects: ballerinas, café society, humans at rest

• Style: Off-beat angles, asymmetrical composition

Dance Rehearsal

The Absinthe Drinkers

Post-impressionism1880-1905

Dissatisfied with Impressionism. Some used formal, near scientific

design. Others emphasized expression of emotions and

sensations through color and light. Forerunners of 20th century art with

its individual styles.

Toulouse-Lautrec,

1864-1901 painted

posters of cabaret nightlife

Toulouse-Lautrec

Paul Cezanne, 1839-1906

• Subjects: still lifes with fruit, landscapes of Mont Ste. Victoire

• Style: forerunner of cubism, simple geometric shapes

Mont Sainte-Victoire

Cezanne, Large Bathers

Georges Seurat, 1859-1891

• Subjects: leisure activities in Paris

• Style: bright colors in tiny dots (pointilism)

Sunday Afternoon in the Park

Le Pont de Courbevoie

Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890

• Subjects: self-portraits, flowers, landscapes, still lifes

• Style: agitated, swirling brush strokes. Passionate, vibrant

Van Gogh, Starry Night

Sunflowers

Self-Portrait

Paul Gauguin, 1848-1903

• Subjects: Tahiti natives, peasants in Brittany

• Style: Exotic primitivism, brilliant colors

Gauguin,La Orana

Maria

Two Women of Tahiti

Cubism

• An Important departure in early early-20th Century art

• No longer trying to reproduce even the the appearance of reality (even more so than impressionism)…. Art for Art’s sake

• Art not a window on the world, but a window on the artist’s mind/emotions-“The painter thinks in forms and colors.” -Braque

GeorgesBraque,

1882-1963

Woman With a

Guitar

Braque

Musical Instru-ments

Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973Guernica

les demoiselles d'avignon