Impressionism, the avant-garde movement that dominated the art world
European social situation at the time the Impressionist movement emerged
The period had the characteristics of what was known as Belle Époque (Beautiful Era). In the last decades of the 19th century, Europe was going through a cosmopolitan culture climate: intellectually rich, exuberant and full of innovative thinkers. European society was living the end of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1871. This phase lasted until the beginning of World War I, in 1914.
Before the war, information about political events in the East did not reach the West because of a lack of rapid means of communication. Therefore, life was beautiful in the Western world, as they only had a partial view of stability. The wealthier population benefited from this and could enjoy all that a peaceful and stable environment provides to those who have money: art, culture, cutting-edge knowledge.
It was, in general, an easy life, which ended up creating a gap in society. Bourgeois and nobles had to use formality as a way to maintain this isolation from the lower classes, that is, they demonstrated a certain level of elegance and wealth as an artificial support to impose their lives on others.
And then Impressionism emerged
Realism was another popular movement at the time. However, it sought to portray stark reality, with truth and accuracy. Impressionism came to break this starkness and conventionalism. The focus of the Impressionists was to capture beyond realistic scenes: they wanted to register the effects from the movement of lights and colors on their perception.
The name of the style, consistent with its objective of portraying the artist’s impressions, derives from Claude Monet’s famous work “Impression, Sunrise” (1873). Monet was one of the movement’s most renowned artists. The painting is already described by its name: the artist’s impression of the sunrise.
Impression, Sunrise (1873). Claude Monet. Image used for the sole purpose of illustration from the Wikiart.org website.
The term became known when painter and writer Louis Leroy wrote a review of the painting. He said:
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“Impression, Sunrise — I was certain of it! I was just telling myself that, since I was impressed, there had to be some impression in it. And what freedom, what ease of workmanship! Wallpaper in its embryonic state is more finished than that seascape”.
He used the expression to make fun of the work, but the artists adopted the term, as they thought the trend could bring a revolution in painting. It took a while, but they were right!
In 1874, the works of Monet and his colleagues were rejected by the Salon of French Artists. In protest, they held an exhibition in a studio on Boulevard des Capucines and named themselves the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, Printmakers, Etc. or the Salon of the Refused.
The Artwork in the Impressionist Movement
The artists often painted outdoors and spent hours depicting and analyzing the effects of light. They sought to capture even the “illusions” that shadows and colors created between them. These illusions were the Impressionists’ object of study. The brush strokes were not as clear as in the Realism technique. Stains or smudges often appeared composing real pictures.
Monet, as well as other artists, even painted the same landscape at different times of the day, just to re-create the effects of light and shadow. Impressionists took advantage and appreciated natural light. The Rouen Cathedral series, painted by Monet on several canvases at different times of the day and different seasons of the year, exploring the changing conditions of light and colors.
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La Cathédrale de Rouen, 1892-1893 (The Rouen Cathedral). Series of paintings by Claude Monet. Images used for the sole purpose of illustration from the Wikiart.org website.
Impressionism made a major contribution to modern art. The works of this period convey harmony and joy, with the study of contrast, playing with light and color. Color is, in fact, an important element in the Impressionist style. Several groups of artists and ramifications of the movement structured a great study, based on scientific knowledge, which resulted in new uses of colors.
The Impressionists used primary or mixed colors, applying thoroughly studied techniques. They preferred to mix colors by juxtaposing them rather than mixing them in a palette. This way, they created a technique that had optical illusion as a strategy. This method was the basis for Pointillism, the main technique used in the Post-Impressionism movement.
The artists who made the Impressionism movement happen
Almost all the Modern Art period was permeated by Impressionism. This means that Fauvism, Cubism, as well as the birth of Expressionism and many others, are contemporary movements. Therefore, some Impressionist artists were also Cubists, Realists, Fauvists, etc.
Below are the main artists who were part of the Impressionist movement:
Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet was a French painter and one of the main Impressionist artists. As mentioned before, the term “Impressionism” is derived from one of his paintings. He enjoyed some fame during his artistic life, but was belatedly recognized as a genius. Oriental influences and the already impressionist style of Eugène Boudin led him to leave thick brush strokes behind. Monet focused on the effect of light on outdoor scenes such as flowers, water meadows and cathedrals.
Autumn on the Seine at Argenteuil (1873), Claude Monet.
Haystacks at Giverny (1884), Claude Monet. Image used for the sole purpose of illustration from the Wikiart.org website.
Édouard Manet (1832 – 1883)
French painter and lithograph artist, Manet is one of the most important names in modern art in the 19th century and one of the greatest representatives of French Impressionism, even though many of his pieces of work have strong realistic trends.
Seascape at Arcachon (1871). Edouard Manet. Image used for the sole purpose of illustration from the Wikiart.org website.
Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917)
Edgar Hilaire Germain Degas’ works was mainly influenced by ballet subjects. The French painter, sculptor and photographer had the ability to register the most beautiful scenes in a very particular point of view, as can be seen in his depiction of dancers onstage or backstage. He is one of the founders of Impressionism.
Dance Class at the Opera (1872). Edgar Degas. Image used for the sole purpose of illustration from the Wikiart.org website.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841 – 1919)
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was one of the pioneers of Impressionism. He liked to paint feminine beauty and sensuality.
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Dance at Moulin de la Galette (1876). Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Image used for the sole purpose of illustration from the Wikiart.org website.
Alfred Sisley (1839 – 1899)
Alfred Sisley was born in France of British parents and studied business in London to follow in the footsteps of his father, who was a director of an artificial flowers export company. However, he became an artist, given his immense sensitivity to the natural world, colors and lights – true to the Impressionist style.
Flood at Port Marly (1876). Alfred Sisley. Image used for the sole purpose of illustration from the Wikiart.org website.
Camille Pissarro (1830 – 1903)
Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro, the French painter, was co-founder of Impressionism and the only artist to participate in all eight Impressionist exhibitions.
Avenue de l'Opera, Place du Theatre Francais (1898), Camille Pissarro. Image used for the sole purpose of illustration from the Wikiart.org website.
Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954)
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse was a French draftsman, sculptor and painter. His works followed several movements such as Cubism, Fauvism, Expressionism, Post-Impressionism and even Orientalism – Matisse went through it all!
Olive Trees (1898), Henri Matisse. Image used for the sole purpose of illustration from the Wikiart.org website.
Mary Stevenson Cassatt (1843 – 1926)
The American painter Mary Stevenson Cassatt was considered one of the leading artists in the Impressionist movement in America.
In the Box (1879). Mary Cassatt. Image used for the sole purpose of illustration from the Wikiart.org website.
Post-Impressionism
Art critics considered that Post-Impressionism began around 1885 and led to the transition to Cubism, which emerged in 1907. Post-Impressionism was an artistic trend (especially in fine arts and sculpture) that gained strength in France at the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century.
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The term Post-Impressionism was first used by British art critic Roger Eliot Fry (1866-1934) to describe the works of Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin exhibited at the Grafton Galleries in London in 1910. But it was Georges Seraut’s Pointillism that boosted the new trend’s development and technique.
Its characteristics derived from Impressionism, the avant-garde movement that inspired it, but, at the same time, confronted it. The world of the art is very transient and the movement gradually distanced itself from Impressionism by showing an emotional side in the reproduction of reality, while the Impressionists method was more superficial. Therefore, Post-Impressionism brought even more intense and often unrealistic lights and colors.
Many critics, rather than considering this a new trend, saw it as an extension of the Impressionist style.
Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh was one of the greatest painters in the history of art and a Post-Impressionist. You can learn more about him here. He preferred painting outdoors and exploring the effects of daylight and night. Mental health conditions led him to perform several types of bizarre behavior, like severing part of his own ear. The Dutchman, who lived and created most of his work in France, painted the masterpiece The Starry Night, which very accurately portrays Post-Impressionist aesthetics: a realistic scene, its impressions and a sentimentality – one of his peculiarities – often not real.
The Starry Night (1889). Image used for the sole purpose of illustration from the Wikiart.org website.
Paul Cézanne (1839 – 1906)
Paul Cézanne was a French Post-Impressionist painter, whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavor to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century.
The Card Players (1892). Paul Cézanne. Image used for the sole purpose of illustration from the Wikiart.org website.
Impressionism in Brazil
Impressionism spread across Brazil in the early 20th century. Eliseu Visconti was the style’s pioneer and one of the most expressive representatives of the movement.
Below are the most important Impressionist among the Brazilian artists:
Eliseu Visconti (1866 – 1944)
Eliseo d'Angelo Visconti, Italian-Brazilian painter, cartoonist and designer, was one of the most important Brazilian artists of the period and the most expressive representative of Impressionist painting in Brazil.
Lady in the field, Eliseu Visconti. Image used for the sole purpose of illustration from the Wikiart.org website.
Henrique Cavalleiro (1892 – 1975)
Henrique Campos Cavalleiro was a painter, draftsman, cartoonist, illustrator and teacher. His works were divided in two phases. At first, it was influenced by Seurat’s Pointillism. After that, he plunged into innovative trends and was influenced by Paul Cézanne, exploring his sense of volume and solidity.
The blue dress (1921), Henrique Campos Cavalleiro. Image used for the sole purpose of illustration from the http://enciclopedia.itaucultural.org.br website.
Alfredo Andersen (1860 – 1935)
Alfred Emil Andersen was a Norwegian painter, sculptor, decorator and teacher who lived in Brazil. He is considered the “father of painting in Paraná”, as he lived in Paranaguá, where he painted pictures of ports and railroads.
Landscape with a Mountain Rage and a Figure (1918), Alfredo Andersen.
Impressionism revolutionized painting in several aspects: technique, the artists’ way of working and their relation to the scene. To this day, there are many artists who rely on the knowledge developed in this phase of art history.
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