Post-Impressionism

Post-Impressionism

a late 19th-century movement where artists moved beyond Impressionism to express emotion, structure, or symbolism, instead of just capturing light and visual impressions.

• Not a single style → different personal responses to Impressionism

• Rejects Impressionism’s focus on fleeting moments

• Emphasizes structure, emotion, symbolism, or science

Neo-Impressionism / Pointillism

Georges Seurat – A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884–86)

A monumental leisure scene painted using a scientific method of color application.

• Pointillism (small dots of pure color)

• Optical mixing

• Carefully planned, not spontaneous

• Modern urban lifestyle

Georges Seurat – Le Chahut (1889–90)

Depicts dancers in a café-concert using color and line to suggest emotion.

• Scientific color theory

• Stylized movement

• Emotional effects through color

Paul Signac – In the Time of Harmony (1893–95)
Utopian scene expressing socialist and anarchist ideals.

• Neo-Impressionist technique

• Political symbolism

• Bright, harmonious colors

• Color linked to emotion (joy vs sorrow)

Paul Cézanne: Structure & Form

Sought to make Impressionism more solid and structured by reducing nature to geometric forms and planes of color, laying the foundation for Cubism and modern art.

Mont Sainte-Victoire (c.1885–87)

• Structure over atmosphere

• Brushstrokes build form

• Nature treated geometrically

• Bridge toward Cubism

Mont Sainte-Victoire Seen from Bibemus Quarry (c.1897–1900)

Later, more abstracted version of the same motif.

• Fragmented planes

• Strong geometry

• Space flattened

Still Life with Apples in a Bowl (1879–83)

Still life exploring perception and form.

• Distorted perspective

• Solid, weighty objects

• Balance and structure

Vincent van Gogh: Emotion & Expression

used intense color, expressive brushwork, and emotional distortion to convey inner feelings and psychological states, making his work a foundation for Expressionism.

Vincent van Gogh – The Potato Eaters (1885)
Early work showing peasant life and manual labor.

• Dark palette

• Social realism

• Rough figures

Vincent van Gogh – Self-Portrait (1886)
Psychological exploration of the self.

• Expressive brushwork

• Emotional intensity

• Distorted color

Vincent van Gogh – Night Café (1888)
Interior meant to express psychological tension.

• Aggressive colors

• Emotional symbolism

• Distorted space

• Mood over realism

Vincent van Gogh – Starry Night (1889)

• Swirling forms

• Emotional turbulence

• Symbolic nature

• Inner reality

Vincent van Gogh – Branches with Almond Blossom (1890)

Description:
Celebration of renewal and hope.

• Japanese influence

• Flat composition

• Symbolism

Paul Gauguin: Symbolism & Primitivism

rejected Western realism in favor of symbolism, bold color, and so-called “primitive” imagery, using art to express spiritual meaning, emotion, and imagination rather than direct observation.

Paul Gauguin – The Vision after the Sermon (1888)
Religious vision imagined, not observed.

• Flat areas of color

• Japanese influence

• Rejection of realism

Paul Gauguin – Spirit of the Dead Watching (1892)

Psychological and cultural themes from Tahiti.

• Emotional fear

• Non-Western influence

• Symbolic color

Paul Gauguin – Where Do We Come From? (1897)

Philosophical painting about life, death, and meaning.

• Monumental scale

• Symbolic narrative

• Spiritual themes

Towards Modernism

André Derain – Mountains at Collioure (1905)
Early Fauvist work using expressive color.

• Intense, unnatural color

• Emotional expression

• Break from naturalism

• Transition to Fauvism

Henri Rousseau – Self-Portrait (1890)
Self-taught artist presenting himself with confidence.

• Flat perspective

• Dreamlike realism

• Individual vision

Henri Rousseau – The Dream (1910)
Fantasy jungle scene painted entirely from imagination.

• Dream imagery

• Flat forms

• Surreal atmosphere