Modern art is full of paintings that can describe historical and cultural events. This essay will however focus on specific art pieces and their representation of the events. This essay will examine the portfolios of three artists. This essay will concentrate on the impressionists and why there was a split between them and the Salon des Beaux-Arts and Academie des Beaux-Arts.
Monet Renoir started the impressionism, a movement that was independent of the Official annual Salon. They wanted independence from its rigid rules. There were painters who were not accepted into the Salon but this was the one and only time that a small group of artists started their movement in opposition to the Salon structure and rules. The only thing that united them was their independence from official Salon. They were considered radicals at the time for their ideas and styles of painting, which violated academic rules. The techniques used by impressionists at the time were developed, specific to the style, and encompassed a style or way of seeing immediacy, movement, and of candid poses, with bright and varied color usage common in impressionist painting.Impressionism as a style, broke many of the academic rules during the 1870’s and 1880’s, because the academic rules favored the Neoclassical and Romantic styles. Academic art was art influenced the standards of French Academy. At the time, this style was created by a fusion between Neoclassical and Romantic styles. According to our textbook’s glossary, the Neoclassical/Romanticism is “a term used to describe styles that were popular in the 18th century, especially those that were based on the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.” The Romantic/Romanticism is “a style that began in the late eighteenth and continued throughout the nineteenth centuries, and that exalted the human capacity for emotions.” (Arnason & Mansfield 762). In the early days of impressionism, the academic rules were broken by the use of freely brushed colours that overruled the need for great contours and lines. Also, they often painted scenes of real life outdoors and not inside a studio. They wanted to capture the effect of sunlight and other natural sources that they experienced when painting outside. Monet’s Impression: Sunrise is a great example of how this is demonstrated in the work chosen for the essay. Van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Crows from 1890, as well as Renoir’s Girls at the Piano from 1892, are also examined less in detail to see what they contributed to the Impressionist movement. Monet’s Impression: Sunrise is the painting that this essay refers to. It depicts rowboats, with the sun in the foreground and more rowboats behind. Janis Tolinson claims that the smoke stacks on packboats, steamships and other masts can be seen in Monet’s painting. Paul Smith says that the painting depicts Port Le Havre sunrise. The colors and style of the painting are different from what was expected at the period, especially for landscapes. Smith says that Monet was searching for spontaneity, but he was guided by historical and definite ideas of what spontaneity was. The canvas is layered with grays, then different colors are added to show details like the sun hitting water and other parts of the painting aligning. Gordon says the accents blue-grays and glimmers are “like last-minute surprises that were waiting to happen, not only until the glimmer burned through the fog, finding its reflective path, onto the waters and Monet’s eyes but also to the canvas, which was still pregnant with the foggy outside space”. Van Gogh created Wheatfield With Crows. It is thought to be his last work, though art historians cannot confirm this. This painting is cited by several critics as being one of Van Gogh’s best. The simple subject matter of crows, a diverging road in a field of wheat, and short paint strokes are some of the things that make this painting stand out. Van Gogh described this painting as “sadness” and “extreme loneliness”. The vibrant colors of this painting are due to the contrasts in color between the blue sky and the yellow orange grain, red of path, and green bands of grass. The paintings in this series show impressionistic paintings, but not their importance or their impact on art during the 19th-20th centuries. Artists who wanted to earn a living before the start of the impressionism trend had to adhere to the academic styles. But the impressionists changed all that. The industrial revolution and changing society at the turn of the century led artists to want to change accepted styles, including the salon. As society changed at the end of the 19th century, artists began to change the style that was accepted by many, especially the salon. The art world of France needed to be challenged in this way. Van Gogh’s work and that of other major painters are good examples of direct influences. Van Gogh says in one letter: “Instead, of trying to replicate exactly what is before my eyes, i use color arbitrarily” The impressionists opened up the possibilities of using colors, allowing for a greater level of artistic freedom. Francesco Salvi said: “Impressionism, the foundation of all modern art is the first movement to be able to shed preconceived ideas and change the way that life is seen and depicted.” It is the inspiration for today’s art. The movement liberated art by releasing it from the restrictions of traditional norms and traditions. Traditions remain important, even if the impressionists were liberating. Traditions were not followed by the impressionists. Miguel Caranti said in a Daily Princetonian article that, “This isn’t to say that quality and innovation go hand-in-hand, but instead that uniqueness doesn’t have to be the end result.” The art must be continuous, and influenced by previous works. Miguel Caranti explains tradition in a way that is very clear. Impressionist artists almost completely ignored the traditional art of their time. The Neoclassical movement was characterized by the smooth mixing of colors and the way they flowed across the canvas. However, the Impressionists were the complete opposite. Their paintings were different colors and had visible brushstrokes. They were stylistically near opposites. They were very similar in subject matter, but also very different. It was not uncommon for subjects to be just regular objects, but they were combined with a sense of time and movement. What says that people will not just ignore all rules, even the most basic ones? The lack of respect for the traditions and rules of the impressionists could make it seem like a non-movement. The rules, traditions, and other things were in place to be respected, so if the impressionists ignore them, we should also disregard the impressionists and their importance. This essay examined the impressionists movement and a few of its famous works as examples of impressionist elements. It also looked at the arguments on both sides about the importance of the movement. The impressionist movement is important. But why should you care? The impressionists were one of, or perhaps the most important historical movements, in which artists rebelled against what was expected to achieve more artistic freedom. This could be a reason why today’s art, films and music are what they are.
Works Cited
The citation remains the same when paraphrasing a source.
Arnason and H. Harvard. History of Modern Art. Paintings, Sculptures, Architecture, Photography. Seventh edition, Pearson, 2013
Bachus Nancy & Daniel Glover The Romantic piano: The Influence on Great Piano Composers of Style, Society and Musical Trends. Alfred Publishing Company released their 2006 edition.
Caranti, Miguel. “Tradition in Art: Why It Matters.” The Princetonian, http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2017/10/tradition-in-art-why-it-matters. Accessed on 11 October 2019.
Gordon, Robert, et al. Monet. Abrams, 1983.
Rabinow, Rebecca A., et al., editors. Cezanne To Picasso: Ambroise Volard, Patron Of The Avant-Garde Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press.
Smith, Paul. Impressionism: Beneath The Surface. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. published the work in 1995.
Tomlinson, Janis A., editor. Readings on Nineteenth-Century Art. Prentice Hall published the original version in 1996.
Van Gogh. Theo considers leaving the firm of Boussod, Valadon & Cie. 10 July 1890, http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/letters/let898/letter.html.
Vincent Van Gogh, a renowned painter and post-impressionist artist, is known for his iconic and inspirational works. Vincent van Gogh’s letter to Theo van Gogh dated 11 August 1888. 11 Aug. 1888, http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/18/520.htm.