Post Impressionism Notes

Post Impressionism

• Era: 1880s to early 1900s.

• Not a linear progression of styles.

• A period encompassing diverse styles rather than a specific, unified style.

• Marked a departure from the naturalism of the Impressionists.

• Shifted towards abstract forms and patterns.

• Paved the way for the exploration of abstraction in the 20th century.

Key Players

• Paul Cézanne (1839-1906): French artist. Died at 67 years old.

• Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890): Dutch artist. Died at 37 years old.

• Paul Gauguin (1848-1903): French artist. Died at 55 years old.

• Georges Seurat (1859-1891): French artist. Died at 31 years old.

• Henri Rousseau (1844-1910): French artist. Died at 66 years old.

• James Whistler (1834-1903): American artist. Died at 69 years old.

Artists Included

• Paul Cézanne: French. Briefly part of the movement.

• Georges Seurat: French. Developed his own style, Neo-Impressionism or Pointillism.

• Henri Rousseau: French. Untrained, worked as a tax collector, known for "naïve art."

• Paul Gauguin: French. Formerly a banker.

• Vincent van Gogh: Dutch.

• James Whistler: American. Advocated "Art for art's sake" and explored connections between art and music.

A Problematic Term

• "Post-Impressionist" is problematic because:

  • It unites artists who were never formally united, unlike the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB).

  • The movement lacks a concrete chronological beginning.

  • It incorrectly assumes all artwork under this title is inherently anti-Impressionist.

Core Characteristics

• Most Post-Impressionists began as Impressionists.

• It is an expression of how the artist saw the world rather than a window on the world.

• Emphasis on the artist’s subjective version of the world.

• Often expresses emotion, symbolic, and personal meanings.

Whistler

• Paintings emphasized tonal harmony.

• Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871), commonly known as Whistler's Mother.

• Oil on canvas, $1.4 \,mm \times 1.6 \, mm$.

• Located at Musee d’Orsay, Paris.

Seurat

• Developed Pointillism.

• A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (1884).

  • Oil on canvas, $2 \,m \times 3 \,m$.

  • Located at the Art Institute of Chicago.

• Circus Sideshow (1887).

  • Oil on canvas, $1 \,m \times 1.5 \,m$.

  • Located at MoMA.

Cezanne

• Exhibited with the Impressionists and associated with Post-Impressionists like Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Seurat.

• Precursor to the Cubists.

• Mont Sainte-Victoire (1902-04).

  • Oil on canvas, $73 \,cm \times 91.9 \,cm$.

  • Located at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

• Began to break down contours in his paintings.

• Explored how reality is a construct of the mind, not the eye.

Van Gogh

• Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889).

  • Oil on canvas, $74 \,cm \times 92 \,cm$.

  • Located at MoMA.

• Sunflowers (1888).

  • Oil on canvas, $92 \,cm \times 73 \,cm$.

  • Located at the National Gallery, London.

• The Bedroom (1888).

  • Oil on canvas, $72 \,cm \times 90 \,cm$.

  • Located at the Van Gogh Museum.

• The Starry Night (1889).

  • Oil on canvas, $74 \,cm \times 92 \,cm$.

  • Located at MoMA.

  • Notable use of "impasto."

• Used impasto: thickly applied paint with visible brushstrokes or palette knife marks.

• Crows in a Wheatfield (1890).

  • Oil on canvas, $50 \,cm \times 103 \,cm$.

  • Located at the Van Gogh Museum.

Gauguin

• Formerly a conventional banker.

• Two Breton Peasants (1894).

  • Oil on canvas, $66 \,cm \times 92 \,cm$.

  • Located at Musee d'Orsay.

• Paras Api (what’s new?) Two Women on a Tahitian Beach (1892).

  • Oil on canvas, $67 \,cm \times 91 \,cm$.

  • Located at Galerie Neue Meister, Germany.

• Distinct style: bold, flat colors separated by heavy black lines.

Henri Rousseau

• Self-taught,