Romantic Era
Above is a painting by Claude Monet called Impression, Sunrise completed in 1872. This is an oil painting of Le harbor and the sun rising in the distance. The harbor is located in Normandy, France where Monet painted this piece. Monet painted this for part of his other series of landscapes and waterscapes. The brushstrokes and texture in this painting really stood out to me the most. You don't see contoured lines or perfect brushstrokes but rather markings, which some considered this as rudimentary. This was a main characteristic of the Impressionism style. The color used for this painting is also important to mention. Monet utilizes cooler blue-grayish tones, contrasted with the orange used for the sky and the sun. Monet was able to convey light as we perceive it with color. During the time Monet finished the painting it was considered a different type of painting compared to his other works. Many think that Sunrise is the painting that marked the name for the Impressionist. Rather than painting the actual landscape, the impressionist style is to produce a "sensation". I love the impressionist style of painting, the reflection from the sun onto the water is amazing, as well as the depth seen in this painting.
Above is called La Grenouillére painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir in 1869. "Grenouillére" is the French word for "frog pond". Painted on the Seine River in northern France. This location was very popular for bathing in the summer. On this day Renoir and his friend Claude Monet painted the same subject. Renoir worked closely with Monet, he soon developed the techniques and values needed to complete an impressionist style artwork. They competed to see who could complete the painting the fastest. In Renoir's painting you can see he used short and quick brushstrokes. As this is an impressionist piece of artwork, Renoir had the desire to portray his impressions directly on the canvas. Renoir's piece represented the people who visited the river. Compared to Monet's painting, Renoir's painting focused on the people who were visiting the river in relation to the overall landscape. Renoir captured the beauty and the feminine sensuality, by using saturated colors and vibrant lighting. He mainly focused on the people in his paintings. The lighting in this painting is incredible. The reflection of the water is phenomenal that it almost looks real.
Above is a painting by Vincent van Gogh called The Starry Night painted in 1889. Van Gogh painted this at the Saint Paul asylum in southern France. The Post-Impressionism art movement started in the 1890's. Artists decided to evoke emotion rather than realism. Some qualities seen in post-impressionist style paintings are symbolic motifs, unnatural color, and painterly brushstrokes. At the time, Van Gogh was in a mental asylum recovering from a mental illness. He painted this from his room window from memory rather than from a landscape. In this painting there was a combination of vertical, horizontal, diagonal, and circular lines. The use of white and yellow create spirals in the sky. The color, light, and the artist's feelings are very prominent in this painting. With Van Gogh struggling with a mental illness many art critiques believe Van Gogh expressed his emotion through this painting. The spirals are really what capture my eye when I look at this painting. The cypress is also a major part of this piece. 
Above is called The Basket of Apples, painted by Paul Cezanne in 1893, in France. Paul enjoyed painting fruit. He wanted to master still life paintings. Paul used subtle gradations of color rather than relying on lighting or shadows. Still life paintings were not popular so Paul decided to change that, using purposeful destruction. Many unbalanced parts include the tilted bottle, bread lines, titled basket, and the right side of the painting containing the table cloth does not match with the same plane as the left side giving a view that there are two different viewpoints. Paul wanted to create a new reality which ran parallel to nature, but was not restricted by the same rules. I like this painting by how simple it is. It makes me feel calm. I like how there are little quirks the artist added in the painting. The colors used don't over power one another.
The major difference between impressionism and realism is that impressionism intends to capture the spirit of the object and its association, using light and colors, while realism attempts to represent subject matter precisely, the way we see it in our ordinary everyday lives. You have depicted the difference beautifully in the paintings you have chosen to display in your post. I especially like “Impression, Sunrise” by Monet, and the way your eyes are first drawn to the rising sun reflecting off the water, and the abstract boats in the bay, excellent piece of art!
ReplyDeleteI learned so much from your blog post! You explained the differences between Impressionism and realism very well, and you brought attention to the different elements in your selections. Like everyone else, I love The Starry Night and have never really noticed all the line work that Van Gogh used. I can see how Renoir focused on the human aspect while Monet focused on the landscape, but Renoir really did an excellent job in painting that water. It almost reminds me of the bayous in South Louisiana.
ReplyDeleteHi Cait,
ReplyDeleteI recognized all of the paintings in your blog post. I think that recognizing these paintings and now being aware of the style they were is really going to help me be able to identify paintings of the same style in the future. You brought to my attention the use of many art elements I normally would overlook in paintings I have seen many times. For example, the feminine sensuality in La Grenouillére and the many unbalanced parts of The Basket of Apples.