Impressionism

Impressionism

Manet – the father of Impressionism. He was a pivotal force in the transition from Realism and Neo-classicalism toward Impressionism. The Impressionist of the 19^th Century looked to Manet for inspiration. He was one of the first to explore the use of colour in a more emotive way and to paint ordinary scenes such as the one below.

Edouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère

 

Impressionism was all about the colour. New colour innovation during the 19^th century lead to the rise of a new breed of painter. Also, the invention of metal paint tubes assisted this movement as it enabled the painter to paint outdoors leading to painting like Monet’s Rouen Cathedral series, as seen below.

Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral Series

 Just like Impressionism and realism grew from the study of the working land and everyday scenes, Van Gogh also took inspiration from these subjects. He painted A Wheatfield with Cypresses in 1889. This style he developed using the bright colours and sporadic rhythmic brushstrokes in a unique way but typical of impressionists. Van Gogh was only to paint like this during the last few years of his life. During the last 2 years of his life he painted over 400 paintings.

Vincent Van Gogh, A Wheatfield with Cypresses

The aforementioned attitudes and techniques was part of what made Impressionism revolutionary and also controversial to the classical establishment of the Salon du Paris and the Acedémie dues Beau Arts. Several painters took impressionism and developed their own style. Paul Cezanne was one, Paul Gauguin another. They would go on to influence future movements such as Expressionism and Cubism.

Personal Study 

This is my own Impressionist artwork created using Photoshop. The brush marks are very simple and imitate the Divisionist style but depict a painting by Vincent Van Gogh – A Wheat field with Cypresses. The colour variations are complex. I’ve used the accented edges effect to creative the digital look. I’m really happy with the outcome and I think it synthesizes the two style well. There is, due to the digital nature of it, a mosaic look about it, which I think works in its favour.