Impressionism VS Post-Impressionism Art

 

The art I found that I liked the most in the Romantic era was the Impressionist art. The last quarter of the 19^th century was when Impressionist became a new art form and became popular. In 1890, it was finally recognized as art and word spread and touched many people. One of my favorite things about Impressionism art was the most important part of it was the way the artist worked instead of only worrying about the outcome. The painting was important, but not as important as how the author got there and what they did to create it, for example, what brush stroke did they use? Why?

I liked how the artist would use fleeting moments in time they have witnessed or been through or even an impression for inspiration. It would be open to interpretation not only from the Artist but from the people who are looking at the painting. It is not supposed to be one way because no one knows the true moment besides the author and anyone else who witnessed or partook in it. So, they are able to paint it how they feel it should look and then the person taking the painting or art into consideration can form their own opinion on it without thinking that it was supposed to look a certain way. I also like the fact that impressionist art is a lot more colorful. The colors tend to blend together sometimes, but you can see that it is part of the idea of the art.

                                    “Couple Under One Umbrella” By: Leonid Afremov

Looking at the painting, you can see how the colors bleed together and the vibrant colors that are used. There is no certain way this painting is supposed to look. Afremov painted the piece of art with bright colors and used them to bring out your emotions in the art. This art is almost like a dream when you look at it. You can dream in color and in the artist mind, this is what he saw at this moment in time. This artist is giving you the chance to see, in your own way, what the painting will mean to you and what you gather, emotionally or otherwise from it.

 

                                              “Mount Maryland” By Jill Stefani Wagner

Just because this painting does not have all the bold colors, does not mean it is not an impressionism painting. You will notice the colors bleeding through to each other. There is a lack of lines for where Wagner painted the scene, but that’s just one of the styles in Impressionism art. This painting is from a memory of a place where Wagner went and seen and she painted it based on her memory. Its not going to look the same and due to weather and other aspects the view has more then likely changed. Wagner painted it based on what she has seen, but the painting does not have distinct lines, due to the fact of the author trying to give you the chance to use your imagination. Remember, impressionism art is not just about the outcome, but how the artist got to that point.

 

Post-Impressionism was in the late 19^th century to the early 20^th century.  Post-impressionism was created to react on the impressionism art because of how the light and color was portrayed. The goal was to extend the Impressionism art, but they wanted to add more emphasis on the geometric forms in the painting and add more arbitrary colors. The post-impressionist was upset because they felt that the impressionist did not show the importance of the subject matter that was painted, and the lack of shapes was a big deal as well. They were unsure of how to move forward, so pointillism became the new way to paint, which was using tiny dots of color.

                              “The Centenary of Independence” By Henri Rousseau, 1892

As you can see in this painting that was done in 1892 by Henri Rousseau, has a lot more of geometric lines and shapes compared to the impressionism art. The details are a lot more vivid as well. The colors are more defined as well and they are not blending or bleeding into each other. There is still qualities of the impressionism art in the painting, like the fact of some of it is left to the imagination, like the faces or what kind of party or festival is going on around them. It is also still just as important as how the artist, Henri Rousseau got to the finished masterpiece as well as masterpiece itself. This is one of the many examples of how the post-impressionism built upon the impressionism era.

Sunflowers By Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh was famous back in his time and is still famous to this day. You still read about him in the textbooks. This is one of the paintings that Van Gogh did that was in the post-impressionism time frame. The lines and shapes are a little more detailed to see the shapes of the sunflowers, but there are also more details to the painting. The colors are not really blending in this art, and you can look and see the details in the art. You can clearly make out the sunflowers. This is one of Van Gogh’s most popular post-impressionism paintings.

     I really enjoyed the post-impressionism paintings and art to be able to see in more shapes and details in the art works. However, I really enjoyed the impressionism artwork for the use of their imagination. The use of bright colors and how they put more importance on the way the artist got to the finishing project instead of just the outcome. Both are really amazing eras though that I enjoyed learning about. I would love to have any of these artworks or any of the others that I have seen in these two eras. The four that are listed above are just examples.

 

Reference:

"Impressionism." Scholar Harvard Art, Open Scholar, scholar.harvard.edu/mourad/section.

"Impressionism." The Art Story, 2021, www.theartstory.org/movement/impressionism/.

"Post-Impressionism." Sotheby's, 2021, www.sothebys.com/en/art-movements/post-impressionism.

"Post-Impressionism." The Art Story, 2021, www.theartstory.org/movement/post-impressionism/.