Neo and Post-Impressionism

Neo-Impressionism (Pointillism)

• Impressionists neglected too many traditional elements - fundamental skills in the mastery of form were ignored, chaotic and disorderly

• broken and free brushstrokes were hard to follow

• Impressionism - random, spontaneous, ephemeral and casual

• Neo-Impressionism - analytical, rational, eternal and formal

• restoring order and applying rules → use of contour for perfect forms, careful balanced classical composition and regular brushstrokes

• liveliness, vivacity, reality and spontaneity lost

Georges Seurat (1859-1891)

• trained in the French Academy

• turned to Impressionism when he met Monet and Degas

• applied his knowledge of science an optics to his painting and founded Pointillism

Paul Signac (1863-1935)

• follower of Seurat, mostly painted landscapes

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Georges Seurat 1884-86

• studio art completely - spent 2 years on this piece

• figures are all either frontal, in ¾ profile, full profile, ¾ back or full back

• figures are reduced to essential forms - harmonics composition achieved by schematic arrangements of lines and colours

• creates the effect of a timeless and serene scene

• optical mixture → allows human eye to do the mixing

• Seurat juxtaposed dots and dashes of col9urs systematically and restored order to the disorderly brushstrokes of Impressionism

• reminiscent of mosaics

The Models, Georges Seurat 1888

• careful and balanced composition - recalls the 3 graces in classical art

• art for eternity, not a fleeting moment

• woman on the left reminiscent of The Valpincon (Bather) of Ingres

Red Buoy, Paul Signac 1895

• searched for a balance between scientific law and visual sensation → less rigid in the forms of pigments

• bold, decorative use of colour - influenced Fauvism

Post-Impressionism

• coined in 1910 by English critic Roger Fry

• denotes late 19th century works that are programmatically anti-academic and anti-Impressionist

• recuperated what was abandoned in Impressionism → the expressive power of form and colour

• Fauvism & Expressionism

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906)

• Impressionism lack form and structure

• restored solidity and volume to objects, anticipates abstraction in modern art

• founding father of modern art

• born in Aix-en-Provence, attended the local art school

• 1861 - moved to Paris, learnt from the collection in the Louvre, made friend with Monet and Pissarro

• 1872-77 - Impressionistic phase

• 1880s onwards - looked for solidity of volume in art, began abstraction of form

Paul Gaugin (1848-1903)

• freed colour from its deceptive role, explored the expressive role of deep and saturated colour

• born in Paris, spent his childhood in Peru

• 1871 - worked as a stockbroker, started painting

• 1881 - joined the 6th Impressionist exhibition

• 1883 - became a full-time painter

• 1886, 1888 - travelled to Brittany, stayed in Pont-Aven, an artists colony, developed ‘synthesis’ and ‘cloisonnism’

• 1888 Oct-Dec - joined Van Gogh in Arles

• 1887-1891 - travelled to Central America, Caribbean, Martinique Islands and Tahiti - where he settled in 1895

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

Explored the expressive power of colour and brushstrokes.

1853 - 1880 (early life):

• born in Barbant Holland, father was a priest

• 1869-76 - worked in an art dealer company in The Hague, London and Paris

• 1876 - began preaching

1880-85:

• decide to become artist

• inspire by Millet, painted peasant life

• 185 - in Antwerp, learnt fro Flemish Baroque art, began to collect Ukiyo-e prints

1886-88 (Paris period):

• lived with his brother Theo in Montmarte

• experimental period - exposed to the Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist styles and themes

• became friends with Gaugin and Pissarro

1888-1889 (Arles period):

• moved to southern France, hoping to establish and artists’ colony

• mature period - explored the power of bright, intensively saturated colour

• Oct-Dec visited by Gaugin, ended in tragedy

1889-1890 (Saint-Remy period):

• entered a psychiatric hospital, painted scenes and objects indoor and outdoor

• copied the works of his favourite artists - Rembrandt, Delacroix and Millet

1890 (Auvers-sur-Oise period):

• moved back to near Patis, taken care of by Dr. Paul Gachet

• painted portraits and local landscapes

• worried by the financial stress of Theo, he committed suicide

1880-1890 - produced over 2000 works but only sold one during his lifetime

Self Portrait, Paul Cezanne 1875

• called himself a student of Pissaro

• reminiscent of Pissarro’s self portrait - broad brushstrokes, same pose

• coarser brushstrokes, sculptural form

• colour scheme - close to Edouard Manet

Still Life with Apples and Oranges, Paul Cezanne 1899

• still life with objects composed with multiple perspectives

• represents a painter’s subjective perception

• not a logically composed space

• solidity of objects is expressed through the intrinsic dynamics of colours

• the edge between the horizontal and vertical plane is obscured

• geometrical forms - forms if nature

• art - a formalistic analysis of objects and of the painted surface #

Monte Sainte-Victoire, Paul Cezanne 1902-04

• sought to achieve the effects of distance, depth, structure and solidity in classical art by an optical analysis of nature - lines, planes and colours → motifs that comprise nature

The Large Bathers, Paul Cezanne 1900-1906

• favourite theme since the 1870s

• figures and trees are drawn in hard contours and given abstract triangular formations

• intense blue and brown tones throughout

• unfinished

Vision After the Sermon, Paul Gaugin 1888

• explored the expressive quality of pure colour

• synthesis - conveyed not a realistic world but a synthetic image of deeper invisible meanings and emotions

• cloisonnism - like cloisonné enamels, opaque, flat colours are separated by dark lines → figures defined by dark lines before flat colour patches are filled in

• Japonisme - tree dissecting the composition diagonally, Jacob wrestling the angel in inspired by Japanese Sumo wrestling art

• red- symbolises deep religious faith

Self Portrait as Les Miserables, Paul Gaugin 1888

• double portrait of himself as Emile Bernard - the poor

• inspired by Les Miserables. he painted himself as Jean Valjean. He compared the figure, full of inner power and love with the misunderstood artists of his own time

• yellow is used as a tribute to his friendship with Van Gogh - symbol of sun, warmth and love → singed “Les Miserables to my friend Vincent Gaugin”

• white flowers - a Japanese motif symbolising the artistic purity of artists

• bye green shadow - anguish and ill

la Orana Maria (Ave Maria), Paul Gaugin 1891

• during his stay in Tahiti

• paid tribute to the universality of religion and myth

• Annunciation or Adoration of 3 Magi - traditional theme in Christian art

• foreground - exotic fruits, offerings of Tahitians to idols of Maori religion

• discovered a paradise on earth

• top right - Archangel Gabriel? 3 Magi?

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?, Paul Gaugin 1897-98

• final reflection on life and the deepest questions of human destiny - painted as a testament after the death of his daughter

• heavy mood - sense of paradise lost

• title in the top left corner

• mysterious figures discussion the fall of man kind

• 4 stages of life on the bottom

• Maori god on the left

• Even plucking fruit from the tree of wisdom

Potato Eaters, Vincent Van Gogh 1885

• harshness of proletarian life rendered with religious meanings

• inspired by Millet’s works of poor peasants

• dark tones, austere and solemn

• dignity of the people - reminiscent of Supper at Emmaus

• central person resembles Christ with a halo

Yellow House, Arles, Vincent Van Gogh Sep 1888

• yellow represents his happiness, his optimism and is therapeutic for his bad mental/physical health

• intense blue - typical Mediterranean sky, complementary to the intense yellow - strong sunlight of Provence

Sunflowers, Vincent Van Gogh Aug 1888

• painted 2 for Gaugin’s room

• heavy impasto - capture the life cycle of nature, inspired by Dutch vanities paintings

• religious sentiment → symbol of sun, warmth and paradise

The Bedroom, Vincent Van Gogh Oct 1888

• simple furnishings - Japanese household

• symbolism of colour - bright colours to express ‘repose’ or ‘sleep’

• original painting looked very different - pale violet walls, sheet and pillows bright lemon green, scarlet red bed spread and lilac doors

Chair with Pipe and Tobacco (left), Gaugin’s Arm chair (right), Vincent Van Gogh Nov-Dec 1888

• two symbolic portraits of the relationship between Van Gogh and Gaugin; Gaugin worshipped as the leader of the brotherhood

Self-Portrait with Pixie, Vincent Van Gogh Jan 1889

• 23/12/88 → after a heated row with Gaugin, Van Gogh had a nervous breakdown and cut his own ear off

• recovering and able to paint

• done in complementary colours and systematic brushstrokes

Starry Night, Vincent Van Gogh Jun 1889

• “we take a train to reach _ and we take death to reach a star”

• fully developed the expressive power of brushstrokes and colour

• influence of pointillism - systematic pigments in short dashes, jutaxposed with complementary colours

• connected in wavy geometric forms, suggest movement

Portrait of Dr. Gachet, Vincent Van Gogh Jun 1890

• an amateur painter and friend of many impressionists

• took care of Van Gogh at Auvers

• represents the heart-broken expression of our time - melancholy

• holding foxglove

Wheatfield with Crows, Vincent Van Gogh July 1890

• meandering road in the middle of wheat fields - documentation of where he’s going to kill himself?

• black strokes on the sky and crows - overwhelming mood of death