19th Century Impressionism & Post Impressionism

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France

Avant-Garde

a break in tradition, pointing the way ahead, radically new

• Impressionism broke away from the smoothness of paintings, classical nudism, and historical paintings

• these were elements in the academic way of learning painting
  

Alla Prima

directly applying paint in one layer, typically painting wet on wet

Plein Air

capturing what is seen outside

Impressionism

1870’s-80’s style of mostly French painting

• new way of applying paint and using color, way of seeing, interest in the subject of the bourgeois at leisure, and depictions of modern life

How did Impressionism get its name?

Impressionism started as a insult to Claude Monet’s painting, saying he had not talent as all he gave was an impression

• some artists then reclaimed that name starting a new art movement, eventually opening a studio together

Impression - Sunrise by Claude Monet

1872, Paris, Impressionism

• a break from tradition completed in a hotel

• trying to capture a moment, quickly, and implied

• uses basic shapes to create forms, though unclear

Rouen Cathedral by Claude Monet

19th century, Impressionism

• fuzzy undefined, wanted to see when light hits the grey cathedral

• based on the light, the cathedral would erupt in many ways

• during the series Monet made over 30 paintings

• was not focused on dramatic white highlights, mainly focused on shades of color

Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette by Auguste Renoir

1876, Impressionism, Paris, oil on canvas

• scene of outside garden, music playing, dancing, and drinking

• uses dabbles of sunlight, instead of giant wash of light, to display the light coming from the trees

• uses implied color, so as the audience steps back they blend together

What new technology helped start Impressionism?

placing oil paint in tubes, pre-mixed, allowed for artist to be able to move their paints

• oil paint used to be held in animal bladders before 1840, making it harder to travel with as they broke, then dried quickly

• now colors and dye were also introduced, bringing a brighter palette

What was used instead of black?

dark purples and blues were used during Impressionism instead of black for shadows

Expressive Color

color that is used to convey a imbue a subject with information like feelings and intense emotions as opposed to “naturalistic color” that which strives to accurately show what is seen

Optical Mixing

describes the perception of color created by the combination of adjacent colors, not through physical mixing, but through how our eye and brain process light

Expressionism

the expression of subjective emotions, inner experiences and spiritual themes, as opposed to realistic depictions of people or nature

Local Color

the inherent, natural color of an object as it would appear under normal, flat, white light, without the influence of shadows, highlights, or surrounding colors

Impasto

a painting technique where paint is applied thickly, creating a visible texture and three-dimensional effect

Pointillism

a painting technique where artists use small, distinct dots of color to create images, rather than blending colors on a palette

Mont Saint-Victoire (series) by Paul Cezanne

19th-20th Century, Post-Impressionism, London