POST-IMPRESSIONISMMID 1880S TO EARLY 1900S

By: Yurema Ona Suarez

Post-impressionism originated in France after being invented by Roger Fry as he prepared for an exhibition in London in 1910.

The word "Post-Impressionism" indicates their link to the original Impressionist ideas and their departure from those ideas -- their modernist journey from the past into the future.

What did they bring to the art world?

Post-Impressionists extended Impressionism while rejecting its limitations: they continued using vivid colours, often thick application of paint, and real-life subject matter, but they were more inclined to emphasize geometric forms, to distort form for expressive effect, and to use unnatural or arbitrary colour. (colour and light, broken colour)

Common Characteristics: Each artist took an aspect of Impressionism

and exaggerated it. For example, Vincent van Gogh intensified

Impressionism's already vibrant colors and painted them thickly on the canvas (we call this impasto). Van Gogh's energetic brushstrokes expressed emotional qualities. Therefore, we see him as an off-shoot of Impressionism and a proponent of Expressionism (art loaded with charged emotional content).

In other examples, Georges Seurat took the rapid, "broken" brushwork of Impressionism and developed it into the millions of colored dots that create Pointillism.

Rejected/What did they not like?

The Post-Impressionists rejected Impressionism’s concern with the spontaneous and naturalistic rendering of light and color. Instead they favored an emphasis on more symbolic content, formal order and structure.

Inspiration: Paul Cezanne was inspired by his friend

Pissarro who’s influence was important in his artistic development. He devoted his career to painting nature and slowly moved from impressionism to post-impressionism.

Paul Cezanne. Turning Road at Montgeroult (1898) Oil on canvas• largely defined by color; green for the bushes in front, a warm ocher for the middle plane (road and houses), and blue for the sky. It is here that Cézanne begins to play tricks. Having rejected clear linear or atmospheric perspective as a means of constructing recessionary illusion, Cézanne relies on the clues afforded by scale, overlapping, and color.

Inspiration:

Vincent Van Gogh: Inspired by Impressionism and Post-impressionism he began using more vivid colors and experimented further with his technique. He also spent time researching the styles of Japanese artwork.

In Paris van Gogh was also influenced by painters such as Gauguin, Pissarro, Monet, and Bernard and developed a close friendship with Gauguin who eventually became one of the biggest artistic influences on van Gogh.

Vincent Van Gogh. Café at Night. (1888) Oil on canvas

•explored these "colors of the night" from the beginning of his artistic career to its premature end

Inspiration: Georges Seurat : after attending the Fourth

Impressionist exhibition; which featured works from artists like Gauguin, Piette, Monet, and Pissarro. It had opened his eyes into pursuing and developing his own theories.

He was particularly devoted to the theory of creating harmony and emotion through the scientific use of optics and complementary colors, having been influenced by the books written by the likes of Michel-Eugène Chevreul and Ogden N. Rood.

Georges Seurat. Bathers at Asnieres. (1884) Oil on canvas

 

•light against dark, so that each area has its full value.•objects have been given a monumental character, and have been set off against one another. (summer themed)

What doesn’t belong to Post-impressionism?