POST-IMPRESSIONISM
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is a whole a term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1914, to describe the development of European art since Monet.
It’s roughly the period between 1886 and 1892 to describe the artistic movements based on or derived from Impressionism. The term is now taken to mean those artists who followed the Impressionists and to some extent rejected their ideas. Generally, they considered Impressionism too casual or too naturalistic, and sought a means of exploring emotion in paint.
POST-IMPRESSIONISM
Post-Impressionism
Henri de Toulouse-LautrecDisabled poster artist known as one of the first Graphic Designers
Paul CezanneLarge block-like brushstrokes; Still lifes, Landscapes
Vincent Van GoghDisturbed painter of loose brushstrokes and bright, vivid colors
George SeuratFounder of Pointillism; Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
Auguste RodinBronze sculptor; Very loose and not detailed. “The Thinker”, and “Burghers of Calais”
Paul GauguinRejected Urban Life and choose secondary-colored Tahitian women
Edvard MunchLong brushstrokes to create haunting images
POST-IMPRESSIONISM
Post-Impressionism
French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was interested in capturing the sensibility
of modern life and deeply admired Degas. Because of this interest and admiration, his
work intersects with that of the Impressionists. However, his work has an added satirical edge
to it and often borders on caricature.
Toulouse-Latutrec’s art was, to a degree, the expression of his life. Self-exiled by his odd
stature and crippled legs from the high society his ancient aristocratic name entitled him to
enter, he became denizen of the night world of Paris, consorting with a tawdry population of
entertainers, prostitutes, and other social outcasts.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec” At the Moulin Rouge”
Art Institute of Chicago. 1895
He reveled in the energy of cheap music halls, cafes, and bordellos. In “At the Moulin Rouge’, the influences
of Degas, of the Japanese print, and of photography can be seen in the oblique and asymmetrical
composition, the spatial diagonals, and the strong line patterns with added dissonant colors.
POST-IMPRESSIONISM
Post-Impressionism
Paul Cezanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902-1904.
Details.
Cézanne would return to the motif of Mont Sainte-Victoire throughout the rest of his career, resulting in an incredibly varied series of works. They show the mountain from many different points of view and often in relationship to a constantly changing cast of other elements (foreground trees and bushes, buildings and bridges, fields and quarries). From this series we can extract a subgroup of over two-dozen paintings and watercolors. Dating from the very last years of the artist’s life, these landscapes feature a heightened lyricism and, more prosaically, a consistent viewpoint. They show the mountain as it can be seen from the hill of Les Lauves, located just to the north of Aix.
POST-IMPRESSIONISM
Post-Impressionism
Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889. Oil on canvas.
Painted in June, 1889, Vincent’s most famous piece depicts the view (with the notable addition of an idealized village) from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, just before sunrise.
Van Gogh depicted the view at different times of day and under various weather conditions, including sunrise, moonrise, sunshine-filled days, overcast days, windy days, and one day with rain. The hospital staff did not allow Van Gogh to paint in his bedroom, but he was able to make sketches in ink or charcoal on paper, and eventually he would base newer variations on previous versions. The pictorial element uniting all of these paintings is the diagonal line coming in from the right depicting the low rolling hills of the Alpilles mountains. In fifteen of the twenty-one versions, cypress trees are visible beyond the far wall enclosing the wheat field.
POST-IMPRESSIONISM
Post-Impressionism
Van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889.
Vincent’s paintings had a scientific reality to them. His paintings often depict the world as it is comprised of moving molecules and atoms. He often painted the energy that we don’t actually see in the real world.This painting was inspired by the Japanese printmaker Hokusai’s image of “The Great Wave”.
Hokusai, The Great Wave, c1828.
POST-IMPRESSIONISM
Post-Impressionism
Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893.Tempera and pastels on cardboard.
In his diary in an entry headed, Nice 22 January 1892, Munch described his inspiration for the image:
One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord—the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became The Scream.
POST-IMPRESSIONISM
Post-Impressionism
“The camera cannot compete with the brush and the palette so long as it cannot be used in heaven or hell…"
Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893.Tempera and pastels on cardboard.