AP ART HISTORY Crash Course - Impressionism and Post-Impressionism Impressionism artists: United by their depiction of modern life, and rejection of established European Styles, embracing new experimental ideas "Avant-Garde". The use of synthetic pigments and ready made paint in solid tubes. Impressionist artists were interested in "plein air" landscape painting.

1. {
IMPRESSIONISM
AND POST-
IMPRESSIONISM
AP ART HISTORY

2.  THE IMPRESSIONISTS ORGANIZED THEIR
FIRST EXHIBIT IN 1874 IN PARIS, USING THE
NAME: ANONYMOUS SOCIETY OF PAINTERS,
SCULPTORS, PRINTMAKERS. EACH MEMBER
HAD A UNIQUE STYLE
IMPRESSIONISM
OVERVIEW
Claude Monet

3.  Their depiction of modern life
 Their rejection of established European styles
 The embracing of new experimental ideas
known as “avant garde”
 The incorporation of new techniques such as
short, choppy brushstrokes, using pure bright
colors.
 New synthetic pigments and ready made paint
solid in tubes
 Interested in painting “plain air”, landscaping
ARTISTS WERE UNITED

4.  In 1853, after more than 200 years,
Japanese ports reopened to trade with
west
 Woodcut prints by Japanese masters
of the ukiyo-e tradition, as well as
other exotic objects such as fans and
kimonos, became easily available in
Europe.
 The Japanese prints and items had a
large effect on the artwork of many
impressionists as well as post-
impressionists.
Japonisme : the Japanese influence
on European art during
impressionism

5. Van Gogh – Japonisme -
impressionism

6.  Van Gogh like many other
impressionists and post
impressionists artists was one
of the admirers of Japanese art.
Le Japonaise by Claude
Monet

7. Flowering Plum Tree by
Van Gogh 1887 (Hiroshige on
the Left)

8. Key impressionists artists
Claude Monet
Edgar Degas
Pierre Renoir
Camille PissarroPaul Cezanne
Van Gogh

9. Claude Monet, Rouen
Cathedral: The Portal 1892
• This one of 30 paintings that
Monet completed using the
same composition.
• Each one captures a unique tme
of the day, year and weather.
• Monet was recording his
experiences with light and its
effect on local color.
• He was well known for his
other series of paintings using
subjects as haystacks and water
lilies

10. Auguste-Renoir :
Luncheon of the Boating
Party oil on canvas 1880
• In this artwork, the changing
character of 19th century French
society is evident. Businessmen,
aristocrats, artists, were all
welcome in the same
establishments.
• Although the scene appears to be
spontaneous, Renoir carefully
crafted the composition to achieve
this effect.

11. Gustave Caillebotte –
Paris: A rainy Day oil on
Canvas 1877

12.  In this piece, Caillebotte captures the changes that
Paris underwent in 1851 under the rule of Napoleon
III.
 Bron Haussman, prefect of Paris, transformed the
medieval city into a modern one. Old buildings were
torn down and boulevards were widened.
 The cropping of the composition is evidence of the
influence of the new medium of photography.
 Caillebotte included the Gare Saint Lazare Train
Station in the background which was new at that
time.
Paris: A Rainy Day by
Caillebotte in 1877

13. Edgar Degas – The Tub
(pastel on paper 1885)

14.  The influence of Japanese woodcut prints can
be seen in the use of an elevated viewpoint, the
semiabstract areas of the composition, and the
simple everyday subject matter.
 Although Degas was not interested in the
effects of light or in landscape painting, his
style is similar to that of impressionists.
 Degas was the first artist to elevate pastel to a
medium used for finished work rather than just
for sketches.
Degas – The Tub 1885-
1886

15. Mary Cassatt –
The Bath, oil on
canvas 1893

16.  Cassatt was the only American to exhibit with the
impressionists
 She did many artworks that depict children being cared for
by their mothers. These reflect new ideas about raising
children. After 1870, French scientists and physicians
encouraged mothers to care for their children themselves
and to include regular bathing to their routine.
 She liked depiction of common elements in women´s lives
found among the floating world of Japanese prints.
 The elevated viewpoint and simplified color and patterns
are evidence of her respect for the Japanese style.
Cassatt – The Bath (oil on
canvas 1893)

17. Post-Impressionism

18.  Post-Impressionism in Western painting, movement in France that
represented both an extension of Impressionism and a rejection of
that style’s inherent limitations. The term Post-Impressionism was
coined by the English art critic Roger Fry for the work of such late
19th-century painters as Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Paul
Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and others.
 . Impressionism was based, in its strictest sense, on the objective
recording of nature in terms of the fugitive effects of colour and
light. The Post-Impressionists rejected this limited aim in favour of
more ambitious expression, admitting their debt, however, to the
pure, brilliant colours of Impressionism, its freedom from traditional
subject matter, and its technique of defining form with short
brushstrokes of broken colour. The work of these painters formed a
basis for several contemporary trends and for early 20th-century
modernism.
POST IMPRESSIONISM

19. Henri de Toulouse – At
the Moulin Rouge (oil on
Canvas 1892)

20.  This is a depiction of the one of Toulouse Lautrec´s favorite
nightspots in Paris
 Toulouse depicted himself and his cousin in the
background and painted his friends as well.
 His work is very personal and emotional and often
contains sarcastic edge.
 He often incorporated the harsh indoor lighting of the
clubs and cafes that he frequented.
 The style of the work is influenced by Japanese woodcuts
in the use of exaggerated color, the caricature like subjects,
the use of outlines, and the mask life faces.
Toulouse – At the Moulin
Rouge, 1892-1895

21. Georges Seurat, A Sunday
on La Grande Jatte (oil on
canvas, 1884-1886)

22.  Seurat depicts people from all social classes enjoying a
popular place of leisure.
 He created the technique called “pointilism” which uses
tiny dots of color to paint.
 His work must be viewed from far away in order for
other colors to blend in together optically. This technique
was based on new ideas about science of color.
Georges Seurat, A dunday
on La Grande Jatte

23. Paul Gauguin: Where do
we Come From? What are
we? Where are we going?
(oil on canvas 1897-1898)

24.  This piece depicts Gauguins fascination with Tahitian
life and culture.
 It also represents the cycle of life from birth through old
age. This is very personal done prior to a suicide
attempt.
 Gauguin is known for his mastery of colors and the
motive power of his palette.
Paul Gauguin: Where do
we Come From? What are
we? Where are we going?

25. Van Gogh – The Night
Café (oil on canvas 1888)

26.  Van Gogh is well known for his prolific output as well as for
his ability to display his tortured inner world.
 His use of bold color, impasto, and swirling brushstrokes
made even the most mundane subject matter seen emotional.
 This piece depicts the interior of a Café in Arles, the large
gaslit room is typical of the time period.
 The few people in the room help create an atmosphere of
loneliness and desolation in the painting.
Van Gogh – The Night
Café

27. Paul Cezanne . The Basket
of Apples (oil on canvas
1895)

28.  Cezanne focused on traditional themes such as
portraits, still life and landscapes.
 He explored the underlying shapes of objects as
well as the use of color, rather than value to
create form.
 He deliberately made some areas flat and used
disjointed perspective.
 Cezannes work was inspirational to Pablo
Picasso and the abstract art of the 20th century.
Cezanne

29. Van Gogh- Starry Night
(oil on canvas)
Van Gogh shows the whirling
and exploding stars, the earth
and humanity huddling beneath
it.

30. Cezanne,
Mount Sainte
Victoire
Cezanne replaced the
transitory visual effects
of changing atmospheric
conditions that occupied
the Impressionists

31. Edgar Degas, The
Rehearsal on Stage, 1874
Oil on Canvas

32.  Worked mostly indoors on subjects that suggest
movement, such as ballet dancers
 Asymmetrical compositions
 Firmly drawn bodies contrast with feathery
brushstrokes of costuming, setting
 Influence of Japanese prints in compositional elements
 Figures often seen from the back, cut off at the edges of
the composition, or marginalized
Edgar Degas, The
Rehearsal on Stage, 1874

33. Edouard Manet, Bar at the Folies
Bergere, 1881-1882, oil on canvas

34.  Faraway look of barmaid who seems bored by her customer
 Mirror reflects into our world
 Uncertainty as to what the mirror reflects
 Trapeze act in far upper left corner
 Composition pushes goods up close to customer
Edouard Manet, Bar at
the Folies Bergere,

35. James Whistler, Arrangement in Grey
and Black: The Artist’s Mother, 1871,
oil on canvas

36.  Debt to Japanese art in curtain design
 Large areas of flat colors
 Severity of composition, reflects the Protestant New
England severity of his mother
 Avoids the sentimentality of motherhood, and instead
creates this portrait as an “arrangement”
 Whistler etching of “Black Lion Wharf” hanging in the
background
James Whistler, Arrangement in
Grey and Black: The Artist’s Mother