Art History 2 Final

realism

• came after romanticism and before impressionism

The Stonebreakers, Gustave Courbet

• destroyed

• formerly in Gemaldegalerie, Dresden

• no commissioner, created on his own

Pollice Verso, Jean-Léon Gérôme

• “thumbs down”

Jean- Francios Millet

The Gleaners, Jean -Francois Millet

• three women are collecting stray ears of wheat left in the field after harvest

• indigent farm laborers

• three phases of repetitive and exhausting that this hard work requires: bend over, pick up, then get up

• there is a man on a horse in the background watching them and making sure they don’t stop

Edouard Manet

• father of modern art

• didn’t want to be called an impressionist

Le dejeuner sur l’herbe (Picnic on the Grass), Edouard Manet

• the women are naked, while men are clothed

• Scandalous- she is an ordinary woman not Venus or an angel, she’s not symbolic

• Her clothes are laying in the corner of the painting

• Perspective is off

• Spots of light, no direct source

• Debuted and rejected at the Salon

The Salon

• exhibition is living artists

• Cannon of neoclassicism

• Classic antiquity wanted

• More than 4,000 works rejected

Olympia, Edouard Manet

• shock at the Salon

• She’s a prostitute

• Replica/inspired by the Venus of Urbina

• Many people said she had short legs and a yellow tone

• The real scandal- this is the gaze of someone sleeping with a prostitute

• Not considered impressionism

• This made an anticipation for the modern movement

Impressionism

• 1874- the first exhibition studio of the photographer Felix Nadar

• Louis Leroy shows “the exhibition of the impressionists”

• Between 1874- 1886 eight impressionists exhibitions were held in Paris

• according to tradition this painting would have been considered a sketch/unfinished

• Capturing quickly a landscape in front of you

• A pleasant vision of life at the time

• Higher class

Claude Monet

Impression, Sunrise, Claude Monet

• No contours

• Applied directly to canvas

• China of color

• Painting outdoor: light, air, movement

“La Grenouilliere”, Claude Monet

• short, broken, quick brushstrokes

• Pure, unblended colors

• Contour line has not disappeared

• Emphasis on the effect of light

• Use of synthetic pigments

• Render shadows in color

Call at the Moulin de la Gallette, Auguste Renoir

• under threes, due to the spotted light

Edgar Degas

The Rehearsal, Edgar Degas

• ‘indoor’ impressionism

• Not staged

“En plein air”

to work outdoors/ paint outside

Post Impressionism

• not a style, the rejection of Impressionism

• The father’s of post-Impressionism, all had different styles, but all rejected Impressionism

  • George Seurat- pointalism

  • Paul Gauguin- synthesism

  • Paul Cezanne- solid architectural geometries

  • Vincent Van Gogh- emotional colors and form

George Seurat (1859-1891)

A Sunday at La Grande Jatte, George Seurat

• neo-Impressionism

• Pointilism

• This may have taken years, unlike that of Impressionism

• Music of social classes, working and light

• Direct light source

• Affect of the wind, blowing four different directions

• First rejection of impression

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)

Vision after the Sermon (Jacob wrestling with the angel), Paul Gauguin

• non-traditional landscape- pure color

• The cow and angel are basically floating

  • No perspective, flat and two-dimensional

• Strong contour, every figure is enclosed by a dark line

• Being flat and two-dimensional is important, because it shows its not real, fantasy, imagination, metaphysical vs third-dimensional, reality

• Going back to the metaphysical art of the Middle Ages

• The women are having a vision

• Priest on bottom right

• Vision of the mind, one woman has her eyes closed and one has them open

• Introduced synthesism, extremely synthetic

  • Dark contours outlining areas of flat color

The Seed of the Areoi, Paul Gauguin

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906)

Woman with a Coffeepot, Paul Cezanne

• still, no movement

• Capturing the essence

• His wife

• Triangle in the torso

• Cylindrical arms

• Sphere head

• Broke the most important rule of the renaissance

• Double perspective, not observing reality

• Introduction of an intellectual perspective

• Woman is seen from a frontal view

• Table is seen from above

The Basket of Apples, Paul Cezzane

• geometrical forms

• Double perspective

Mont Saint-Victorie, Paul Cezzane

• made around 20 paintings of this mountain

• Wanted to capture its beauty

• Can see the contours

• Geometrical houses

The Card Players, Paul Cezzane

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

Night Cafe, Vincent Van Gogh

• a cafe in the south of France

• Emotional colors, represents an inner sentiment

• Used color and brushwork to express himself

• “The cafe is a place where you can ruin yourself, go crazy and commit a crime”

• The colors are unpleasant, but they make you feel something

Starry Night, Vincent Van Gogh

• painted in an asylum

• He painted it when thinking about his suicide

• Caught looking at the sky a lot

Wheat Field with Crows, Vincent Van Gogh

• Van Gogh committed suicide a few days after he finished this painting and two large others