The two art styles from the Romantic Era that I will be comparing are Impressionism and Post-impressionism. Impressionism is a style that began in France in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. As Phil Hansen says in his video on an "Impressionism - Overview from Phil Hansen", impressionist art often depicts a scene as if taken at a glance. Many of these paintings only give an "impression" of whatever they are portraying. Impressionist paintings were full of color and often included scenes from the outdoors. On the other hand, Post-Impressionism was much more formal and had more of a structure than the freer nature of Impressionism. Many of our famous paintings today are from the Post-Impressionist time, including work from Vincent Van Gogh.
The first two paintings I will be diving into a bit more are from the Impressionist period. First off, a painting by Claude Monet who painted this piece that helped define the create the Impressionist movement.
"Impressionism, Sunrise" - Claude Monet
This painting was done in 1872, by Claude Monet, a French artist. This painting helped spur on the impressionist movement in the late 1800s. It is depicting the port of Le Havre, which is from Monet's hometown. Much of the focus of this painting is on the color and light. The sun is just breaking through in the background with that bright pop of red. This depicts the impressionist period of art very well because there is not very many intricate details, but loose brush strokes aiming to give an "impression" of the port. The many shades of blue in the painting help capture that impressionist style, while also portraying depth of the painting through the layering of the paints.
Next, is a painting by Edgar Degas, another founder of the Impressionist movement, however he denied that he was an impressionist painter.
"The Blue Dancers" - Edgar Degas
This painting, "The Blue Dancers", by Edgar Degas was painted in 1897. Degas was a French artist, however this painting is now portrayed in Moscow, Russia. Over half of Degas' works depicted dancers, just as this one does. Edgar Degas uses color and line in this painting to portray the fleeting movement of the dancers. The colors in the background, with the green and gray mixed together help portray that fleeting look from the Impressionist era, as well as the loose brush strokes. The linear nature of the dancers also make it look as if they are in the middle of a dance and moving.
I really love these impressionist paintings, and how they portray a scene as if from a glance. I think it is a very cool style of artwork rather than having more details in the scene. I would happily own many of these Impressionist paintings if I could.
These next two paintings are from the Post-Impressionist Era, starting with a painting by a very famous Dutch artist. Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch artist, however he lived in France and painted many of his paintings in France.
"The Potato Eaters" - Vincent Van Gogh
This painting, titled, "The Potato Eaters", by Vincent Van Gogh was painted in 1885 in the Netherlands. This painting is very different from the Impressionist work. It shows much of the detail of the scene and is depicting a scene from indoors rather than much of the outdoor scenes of Impressionism. The dark color that Van Gogh uses in this piece of art helps him portray the harsh reality that existed in much of the countryside. Many say that this painting is painted in the colors of a potato, showing just what these people are going through. Van Gogh uses so much details in the peasants faces and hands to show the bony, coarse faces.
The second painting I chose from the Post-Impressionist period is from another French artist,
Paul Cézanne.
"The Basket of Apples" - Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne had much more order, structure, and detail in his paintings compared to artists from the Impressionist period. He aimed to make paintings seem as if they were from multiple perspectives by distorting objects. He created much dimension in his paintings, including this one by strategically using his brush strokes. He painted many still-life paintings such as this one, while still utilizing some the Post-Impressionist strategies. The detail portrayed in this painting is amazing, with such clear lines defining each object from another. Such detail is one of the main things which separates the Impressionist paintings from the Post-Impressionist paintings.
Overall, I definitely prefer the artwork from the Impressionist period rather than the Post-Impressionist period. The light and loose brush strokes really appeal to me, and the fleeting look of the paintings is super cool. The detail involved in the Post-Impressionist artwork is definitely impressive, but just does not appeal as much to my personal preference.
References
Impressionism and post-impressionism (no date) Oxford Art Online. Available at: https://www.oxfordartonline.com/page/impressionism-and-post-impressionism/impressionism-and-postimpressionism
Voorhies, J. (no date) Paul Cézanne , Metmuseum.org. Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pcez/hd_pcez.htm
Vincent van Gogh - The potato eaters (no date) Van Gogh Museum. Available at: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0005v1962
I also did the the work by Monet. This is the one I liked the most of the four you chose as well as mine. I liked how you pointed out the flash of color that kind of offsets the gray of he rest of the work.
ReplyDeleteHello Faith! One of the art pieces that you had shared was the "Potato Eaters" by Van Gogh. This piece has so much emotion in it and it's almost like you can feel what they are going through, the dark colors really piece everything together.
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