POST-IMPRESSIONISMGRADE 11 ART THEORY

POST-IMPRESSIONISM BACKGROUND:

Post-Impressionism is a predominantly French Art Movement developed

between 1886 and 1905.

It focused on emotion rather than realism.

Artists use vibrant colors, geometric forms and gestural brushwork.

Post-Impressionism is a blanket term for the many reactions against

realism.

The artists of Post-Impressionism were united to overturn the

superficiality of Impressionism. They felt that their obsession of technique

was overshadowing the importance of their work.

CHARACTERISTICS:

The impressionist rejected painting “en plein air” like the impressionists,

they instead looked at their memories and the emotions to

connect with the viewer on a deeper level.

They used symbolic and personal meanings important to the artist.

There were many varied styles under Post-Impressionism.

Structure, order, and the optical effects of color dominated the work of the

Impressionists.

The Impressionists did not just represent their surroundings, they relied

upon the interrelations of color and shape to describe the world around

them.

PAUL CÉZANNE (1839-1906)

The Salon de Refuses inspired Cézanne as he saw

the wide range of colours the Impressionists use

and he began to do the same.

He quickly saw the weakness of Impressionism and

wanted to do something more durable as seen in

the Old Masters.

After the death of his father he developed his own

style.

He worked in planes of colour and short

brushstrokes.

INFLUENCES:

Cézanne was influenced by Courbet and Delacroix because of the

structure of their work. Cézanne did an extensive study of the Old

Masters in the Louvre.

Impressionism as Cézanne loved the bright colours, but felt that they

neglected shape and structure in their work by focusing on colour and

brushwork.

Mont Saint-Victoire (Saint-Victoire Mountain) was one of Cézanne’s

favourite subjects to paint. Cézanne was fascinated by the architectural

forms in the mountain.

CHARACTERISTICS:

Subject Matter:

Cézanne had limited number of subjects such as still life's, landscapes, bathers and

portraits.

He was notorious for taking long with people sitting for portraits.

Space and Depth:

Cézanne rejected one point perspective where all lines lead back to one

point. This created a shallow space in his artworks and his perspective was

often incorrect.

Cézanne was aware of the flatness of the canvas and created a flat space.

Colour:

Cézanne used the bright colours of the Impressionists but in a structured

way.

He tried to make one colour area relate to the next- this is known as

modulation.

He outlined his shapes with dark contour lines and the shadows around

his shapes were solid.

Brushwork:

Cézanne’s brushstrokes were placed with a firmness and with thought.

Cézanne used rectangular brushstrokes which did not express emotion.

Composition:

Cézanne used the underlying structure of the shapes in his work, like the

cylinder, the sphere and the cone. He only gave these shapes the essential

details.

Approach:

Cézanne is classified as a formalist because he worked intellectually and

the arrangement of the formal elements were extremely important to

him.

Cézanne was interested in the never changing, underlying structure of

shapes.

Cézanne never worked to a formula, every painting was a new

challenge.

Cézanne holds the honorary title of the “Father of Modern Art” as

many 20th Century artists were inspired by his work. His influence is

seen in Cubism.

STILL-LIFE WITH BASKET OF APPLES, 1890-1894, OIL

ON CANVAS

Everything was deliberately placed with

this still life, though it seems accidental.

There are some major errors with

proportions and perspective, the line at

the back of the table does not line up.

The bottle is oddly tipped and the

cookies on the right look oddly

stacked, the bottom layers viewed from

the side, but others viewed from the

top.

Look at the

painting closely, its

almost as if

Cézanne moved

as he was painting

certain elements,

changing the angle

he was looking at

the different

objects in the

arrangement.

THE LARGE BATHERS, 1898-1906, OIL ON CANVAS

Cézanne did not pay attention to

proportion and anatomy and the

bodies seem solid and solid. Not a soft

nude.

He does go back to the traditional

Renaissance pyramid composition.

The figures are elongated and

unfinished. There is a heaviness to

them.

He’s not looking at a nude in his studio,

the nudes lend themselves to the

scene.

Diana and Actaeon, Titian,

1556–1559, Oil on canvas.

This artwork by Titian is

direct inspiration for the

composition of the Large

Bathers.

VINCENT VAN GOGH (1853-1890)

Van Gogh was born in Groot-Zundert,

Holland.

He worked for an art dealer in Brussels for

seven years. He worked at various branches

in Paris and London.

He worked as a missionary in Borignage, a

coal mining district in Belgium where the

suffering of the poverty stricken community

shocked him.

He dedicated his life to painting after that.

THE POTATO EATERS, 1885, OIL ON CANVAS

This is an early example of Van

Gogh’s work.

Van Gogh wanted to show the

colourlessness of the lives of

the lives of the mineworkers

and labourers with somber

colours.

Van Gogh was still

experimenting with

proportions and faces.

VAN GOGH’S LIFE:

In 1886 he went to live in Paris with his brother Theo who was an art dealer.

He was inspired by the light colours in Japanese wood prints.

He painted 200 paintings and was inspired by the countryside but eventually

moved to Arles and invited Paul Gaugin to stay with him in October1888.

Within 2 months of them staying together Van Gogh suffered a nervous

breakdown and attempted to take Gaugin’s life.

After the confrontation, Van Gogh fled to a brothel. While there he cut a

small part of his left ear lobe and presented it to a prostitute and told her to

“keep this object carefully”.

Gauguin eventually found Van Gogh unconscious and with his head covered in

blood. He was taken to hospital and was in a critical condition for several days.

Gaugin moved out and Van Gogh recovered but continued to have frequent

violent relapses.

Van Gogh checked himself into the Saint-Remy-de-Provence Institution in May

1889.

After Saint-Remy-de-Provence he continued to paint and this is where the swirling

patterns and curves started to appear in his work.

His inner conflicts were shown through the brushstrokes in his work.

He sold one painting in his life, Red Vineyard near Arles, in 1890.

He was continuously troubled by his financial dependence on his brother, Theo.

and his own declining health.

He took his own life in 1890 and his brother, Theo died 6 months later.

Theo’s widow collected Vincent’s work and held many retrospective exhibitions.

He became famous almost instantly.

Vincent Van Gogh

Pictured 1873

Theo Van Gogh

Pictured 1878

Johanna Van Gogh-Bonger

Theo Van Gogh’s Widow

Pictured 1889

“I cannot help it that my paintings do not sell. The time will come when people will see that they

are worth more than the price of paint.” Vincent Van Gogh

Red Vineyard near

Arles, 1888, oil on

canvas

INFLUENCES:

The social commentary and empathy for the poor in Van Gogh’s work is

reminiscent of the work of Millet (realism).

Van Gogh was influenced by Delacroix in the way he uses complimentary

colours next to each other.

The clear and bright outlines of Japanese wood prints.

The bright colours and informal technique of Impressionism.

His own personality and humanity and need to express himself

influenced the way he approached his work.

CHARACTERISTICS:

Subject Matter:

Landscapes, portraits, still lifes and interiors.

Van Gogh always worked from in reality, but he portrayed his emotional

reaction to the subject.

Space and Depth:

There is always feeling of depth in Van Gogh’s work.

He often placed large masses in the middle of the canvas.

Van Gogh used line perspective and the horizon is three- quarters up the

canvas.

Colour:

Van Gogh is known for his emotional use of colour.

His use of colour started as somber and became lighter under the

influence of the impressionists.

The colour in his later works was over emphasised to portray his

emotions. Van Gogh placed yellows often against blues and violets.

Brushwork:

Van Gogh’s brushwork was a physical indicator of his emotional state

and they create a rhythmic movements in his work.

There is a strong linear character to the application of paint with

strong outlines.

Van Gogh applied paint with a brush or palette knife or straight from

the tube.

Compostion:

Van Gogh simplified and distorted shapes.

No unnecessary detail was given, only the essence of a scene.

Van Gogh worked from reality and the essence of the subject

was depicted to which he reacted to emotionally.

Approach to his work:

No painter before Van Gogh gave such a portrayal of his inner

feelings.

His art therefore personal and subjective.

His quick execution, distortion of shapes and emphasis of

colour contrasts are typical.

He is regarded as the father 20th century Expressionism as he

influenced Munch and the German Expressionists.

THE NIGHT CAFÉ, 1888, OIL ON CANVAS

It depicts the interior of a pool

café in the town.

Two-thirds of the painting is the

floor of the café painted in

sulphuric yellow with exaggerated

lines of the perspective that pull

the eye into the painting.

The pool table stands out with a

dark outline in contrast to the

figure with the light coloured coat.

The patrons of the bar are all hunched over in a late-night stupor (a state

of near-unconsciousness or insensibility).

The blood red walls lead up to a bright green.

The lamps on the ceiling are surrounded by Van Gogh’s wheels of curving

yellow brush strokes.

The colour of this work is the main thing that draws you in, then you

notice the exaggerated perspective of the bar.

Van Gogh himself has said of this painting: “It is the ugliest painting I have

ever done.”

Van Gogh also says of this work: “I have tried to express the terrible

passions of mankind by means of red and green. I have tried to express the

idea that the café is a place where one can ruin oneself, run mad or commit

a crime. So I have tried to express as it where the powers of darkness in a

low drink shop.”

STARRY NIGHT,1889, OIL ON CANVAS

Starry Night was painted whilst Van

Gogh was in the asylum at Saint-

Remy-de-Provence.

The focus of this artwork is the

night sky filled with swirling clouds

and stars ablaze with their own

luminescence and a bright crescent

moon.

Below the hills is a peaceful little

village.

The church spire stands out in the town, almost protecting it. The spire is

the center point of the painting.

To the left of the painting is a massive cypress tree. The curving lines

mirror the swirls in the sky. This helps create depth in the painting.

The swirls in the sky guides the eye around the painting, following the

curves and swirls.

Van Gogh used thick impasto paint that forms strong lines.

The winding lines were transformed to look like exploding stars in the sky

and geometric forms in the village.

The sky was painted quickly and thickly.

The motivation of the painting was emotional as the scene in the painting

is not what Van Gogh could see from his room in Saint-Remy-de-Provence.

The contrast between the dark blues and blacks of the night and the light

in the sky and the village is a scream for hope, light and love.

PAUL GAUGUIN (1848-1903):

Gauguin was born in Paris and in his early life

he travelled to Peru and upon his return he

became a stock broker and French Polynesia.

In 1888 he joined Van Gogh in Arles. After Van

Gogh’s psychotic break and Gauguin returned

to Paris the two never spoke again.

In 1891 Gaugin was broke and sailed to the

Polynesian Islands to escape European

civilization.

He hoped to find artistic rejuvenation by living among “primitive” people

and culture.

Except for one trip back to Paris, he spent the rest of his life in the South

Sea Islands.

First Gauguin stayed in Tahiti, then the Marquesas Islands.

Gauguin had many conflicts with the colonial authorities during his stays on

the Polynesian Islands.

Gaugin was looking for a primitive idyll (like an idyll; extremely happy,

peaceful, or picturesque).

He spent his last years in sickness and poverty.

INFLUENCES:

In his early work he was influenced Impressionism.

Gauguin was always on the lookout for exotic places because the

“primitive” societies were “not polluted by Western ideas and values.

Primitivism is an art term that refers to the ‘borrowing’ of visual forms

from non-western or prehistoric peoples. We would not use the term

primitive as it is derogatory and reflects colonial thinking of superiority.

CHARACTERISTICS:

Subject Matter:

Gauguin believed that the artist should work from memory to create imaginative

works.

He often used religious and spiritual themes.

The portrayal of man is important in his work. In his later works he created

idealized figures from the South Sea Islands.

Space/Depth:

Gauguin made use of flat space created by horizontal bands of colour

Gauguin’s work became flat surfaces filled with bright colours with no attempt at

creating a naturalistic portrayal.

Colour:

Gauguin believed that colour was symbolic and imaginative. No modeling

was represented.

He made use of flat, decorative shapes.

His backgrounds are as bright as the foregrounds.

Gauguin made use of Cloisonnism is a style of post-Impressionist painting

with bold and flat forms separated by dark contours.

Brushwork:

Gauguin made use of broad parallel brushstrokes in a simplified

application.

He avoided modeling the flat areas of colour with dark lines.

Composition:

Gauguin placed equal importance on positive and negative shapes.

He often used rhythmic decorative shapes to create strong two-dimensional

shapes.

He did not copy from nature, but worked from his imagination.

Monumental simplified figures were created.

Approach to his work:

Gauguin called his style “Synthetism”. This is a type of symbolism where the artist

uses his imagination, because memory only remembers that which is meaningful

or symbolic. Thus the painting is a simplification of reality characterized by flat

colour areas, no shadows and the freedom to interpret shapes and to simplify

them.

He was strongly opposed to naturalism.

Gauguin works are seen as mysterious and exotic and directly influenced

fauvism.

Two Tahitian Women, 1899,

Oil on Canvas

Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going to?

1897, Oil on Canvas

By the Sea, 1892,

Oil on Canvas

VISION AFTER THE SERMON, 1888, OIL ON CANVAS

This is an early work of Gauguin.

This work depicts how after a

moving church service the

religious Breton women see a

vision of Jacob wrestling with the

angel.

The wrestling images are based on

a Japanese woodprint by Hokusia.

Gauguin himself described the image as severe.

The wrestling figures are shown on a field of red rather than a green field as

this is showing the supernatural state.

For Gauguin, the first element to be freed from reality was colour. To him it

shows emotional expression.

The tree separates the earthly from the spiritual.

There is a clear break from naturalism with his use of flat spaces.

There is a bit of perspective with the figures getting smaller and smaller to

the left.

Synthetism is present with the black outlines separating the figures from the

background.

This work shows Gauguin’s idea of art as symbolic and simplified.

THE DAY OF GOD, 1894, OIL ON CANVAS

This work is a representation of

Gauiguin’s imaginative

interpretation of Polynesian

mythology.

The statue in the center of the

painting is supposed to be the

Maori god Taaroa and in the

mythology he creator of the

world and chief of the gods in

Maori culture.

The two women in white on the left are taking gifts to the statue and the women

on the right are performing a religious dance.

On the left is a musician playing a flute like instrument and on the right is a

universal mother and child portrayal.

Gauguin is referring to many sources such as Egyptian hieroglyphics if you look at

the profiles of the figures in white.

The naked figures in front seem to represent creation, especially the figure on

the right in the fetus position (like an embryo in the womb).

The shapes in the water is unusual as the colours are not very natural, they are

perhaps rocks or shadows or just decorative reflections to give the composition

mood and rhythm. There are many flat areas and non-naturalistic colours.

The clouds match the water as being almost mirror images.

This work was created from Gauguin’s imagination focusing on man’s fascination

with religion.