Everyday activities and nature’s
unaltered beauty began to be more interesting to people instead of depicting
scientific or academic scenes around 1874. Impressionist artists turned their
attention to the life around them. They would sketch very fast and would copy
down what they saw with their own eyes. They did not paint pictures of any
moral message; they just painted simply the image in front of them and used
lighting and various colors to make an image. Some of these artist used
repetition like in the series of works titled “Haystacks” by Claude Monet. The
different time of day is reflected in the art and different angles and lighting
helps the audience know the time he was painting the image and what viewpoint
the image is being painted from. Small fast strokes make up the larger picture
for the artwork created during the Impressionist period.
Monet is famous for this style of
art. He used small strokes of paint that if seen up close looked like
individual markings and would cast a blurry image. When looked at from a distance
the small strokes came together to form vivid pictures and left a bold image in
mind which was different from the traditional mixing of colored paint first and
then painting with it. This was a huge shift in the way artist caught the eye
of the audience. The impressionist were all about light and color and formed
more saturated pictures because of the way they did not mix colors they simply
put them on the palate close to each other in small dots or strokes and let the
human eye mix the colors themselves almost like an optical illusion. Japanese
prints and the invention of photography led to new ways of structuring
paintings as well. The “open form” or cropping of an image was introduced to
the art world during this period as well. The spread of colonization changed
the cultural art of European groups during this time as well. Many non-western
cultures were invaded which allowed native people’s traditional art to come in
contact with western and European artists. These art forms influenced artists
and shifted art into the Post-Impressionist period.
The painting here by Monet is
titled “Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies” and is from the Impressionism
period. You can see by looking at the image closely how small the strokes are.
The image looks almost dream-like and fragile but nonetheless is clearly a
bridge over a lily pond. There is no deeper meaning here that Monet is trying
to convey. He is simply painting what he sees in front of him. The natural
beauty of the lily’s reflection in the pond and the bridge over it is the artist’s
only message.
The post-impressionist period is
characterized by suggesting deeper meaning of a natural scene which started around
1886. These artists used impressionistic techniques but they also incorporated
more passion and expression in their work by using colors. They allowed their
personal interest to be incorporated into their art and used color to influence
the audience’s mood and emotion about what they were viewing.
In Paul Gauguin’s Post-Impressionist
painting “Two Tahitian Women”, we see him use bold colors and flat perspective
to convey the beauty of these women. He used
facial expression here to give the image a serene feel and there is a sense of
confidence portrayed with these women barring their chest and not seeming to
care. It seems like Gauguin was trying to show appreciation and admiration of
these women’s confidence of their naiveté.
This like Monet’s “Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies” is a depiction of
what the artist is viewing in real life but Gauguin adds in his own personal
feel and allows the audience to take away a more moral message rather than just
appreciate the beauty of his art.
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