PostImp.pptPost-Impressionism
A broad category that encompasses
freer brushwork, wilder colors,
and less faithful adherence to illusion and reality
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Post Impressionism delves more deeply into the idea that art is not meant to be illusionistic but rather expressionistic or concerned with the medium itself.
The Post-Impressionists that we will examine include:
- Artists who used Impressionist subject matter (the streets of Paris and leisure activities) but who pushed the boundaries of color or subject matter
- Artists who experimented with color theory, or flattened planes of color
- Artists who explored themes that evoke fantasy, the psyche, dreams, and symbolism
- Artists/architects who worked against the idea of mechanization and were inspired by natural forms
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Henri de Toulouse Lautrec
Toulouse Lautrec with
Jules Chéret, who was a poster maker
Impressionism became more accepted toward the end of the 19th century, allowing formerly impoverished artists like Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir to became well off. The stylistically, art began to evolve into a number of different branches, each inspired in some way by Impressionism or by the Modernist movement which arguably starts with Manet. Toulouse Lautrec is considered a Post Impressionist because like Degas and Manet he utilized subject matter from the streets of Paris but he flattened the picture plane even more and used expressionistic color. Although he was born into an old, wealthy, aristocratic family, he felt like an outsider because of his deformity which developed as a result of genetic problems, illness and injury, causing the growth of his legs to be stunted. Always interested in art, he decided to leave his home and move to Paris—specifically to Montmartre, the most bohemian quarter of Paris. There he engaged in painting and poster making inspired by what he observed in his counter culture world of cafes, night clubs, theaters, and the bordellos where he spent a good deal of his time. He lived hard, socialized with entertainers, prostitutes, and other social outcasts, and drank heavily, some say as a result of his handicap and the tormenting he experienced because of it. He became an alcoholic and contracted syphilis which contributed to his untimely death at the age of 37.
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Right: HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC, Jane Avril, 1893. Color lithograph, 4’ 2 1/2” X 3’ 1”. San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego (gift of the Baldwin M. Baldwin Foundation).
Above: Portrait of Jane Avril by Toulouse Lautrec, 1892
Toulouse Lautrec experimented with a new art form, poster art which was reproduced by the process of lithography. He became one of the first masters of the form. This example, a poster to advertise the nightclub entertainer, and his friend Jane Avril, consists of 5 colors and was reproduced an pasted on to walls and windows all over Paris. He was inspired perhaps by Degas’ use of oblique angles looking from above as we saw in Degas homage to Japanese prints, The Tub, and Toulouse Lautrec was also inspired by Japonisme. We see the exaggerated arm and head of the bass viol player and in yellow block print type color, the skirt and black stockinged figure of Avril. In Montmartre, and elsewhere in Paris, there was a wide variety of popular entertainment available to the Parisian audience, including music halls, theaters, opera and circuses.
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HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC, At the Moulin Rouge, 1892–1895. Oil on canvas, 4’ x 4’ 7”. Art Institute of Chicago
Aside from his posters, Toulouse-Lautrec’s preferred medium was oil on canvas. At the Moulin Rouge, a glimpse at the late night interior of one of the hangouts of Toulouse Lautrec, we can see how Japonisme has inspired this composition in terms of the narrow depth of field and the flattened color planes of the figures. At the Moulin Rouge, a dance hall/nightclub which still exists and draws tourist to Montmartre, he uses odd diagonals, asymmetrical composition, possibly inspired by photography and by the Japanese prints he loved. Although he used the Impressionist idea of capturing life as he saw it happening, he focused on more edgy subject matter and added exaggerated color and facial expressions which take on a satirical and expressionistic interpretation of the lighting, and masklike faces, including a self portrait in the left background wearing a derby, standing beside a much taller man with a top hat. Toulouse Lautrec had a major on 20th century artists, especially the Fauves which we will look at after the Midterm.
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Above: Renoir, Moulin de la Galette, 1876
Right: Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Moulin Rouge, 1892-5
Moulin means “windmill” in French and the windmills of Montmartre are a holdover from the days when Montmartre was largely agricultural—these places of entertainment are converted windmills
Compare the gentle, sun dappled scene of people socializing at the Moulin de la Galette, also in Montmartre by Renoir as compared to Toulouse Lautrec’s interior scene at the Moulin Rouge.
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Left Moulin Rouge. Right: Moulin de la Galette
Top vintage images, below contemporary photos
GEORGES SEURAT, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884–1886. Oil on canvas, 6’ 9” x 10’. The Art Institute of Chicago
In this painting, George Seurat is clearly inspired by Impressionist scenes of leisure around Paris but his technique was quite different than the Impressionists. He approached color from a scientific perspective. Chemist Michel-Eugène Chevreul developed a theory of color based on simultaneous contrast. His theory asserted that juxtaposed colors affect how we see those colors. Seurat’s system which we call pointillism, consists of a series of small dots or points of color which are not mixed and which up close are almost impossible to “read” but from a distance formed into cohesive shapes and patterns. Seurat’s painting is like an optical illusion because the viewer sees a combination of flatness and spatial depth at the same time. La Grande Jatte, an island near Asnières outside of Paris was a popular place for relaxing, picnicking and sailing. Seurat depicts a variety of social classes enjoying the summer’s day; for example the working class man in the red shirt on the left seated next to a well dressed middle-class man and woman.
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Detail of A Sunday on La Grande Jatte
COLOR THEORY--Pointillism
Color theory: because of advances in science, scientists began to study optical reception, color in terms of wave lengths, and the psychological effects of color on the mind. Scientists explored and wrote about how colors change relative to each other depending on hue and saturation in situations where complementary or dissimilar colors appear together. Artists like Georges Seurat used these theories to explore compositional relationships in his paintings in which he employed dots of color and explored how their relationship affection the visual perception and even the mood of the viewer.
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VINCENT VAN GOGH, The Potato Eaters, 1885. Oil on canvas, 2’ 8 1/4” X 3’ 8 7/8". Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam.
Vincent Van Gogh is considered a Post-Impressionist because he painted similar subjects as other Impressionists but with an expressionistic style all his own based on emotion. This is an early example of Vincent Van Gogh who was the son of a Dutch Protestant pastor. His first major work reflects his interest in poor families when he worked as a missionary in a coal-mining region of Belgium. As he began to go further south paint more, his palette became brighter and his style changed. Here we can imagine that he was inspired by genre painting of the 17th century like many of the Dutch painters. This scene also recalls a genre painting by Louis Le Nain, the French artist work whose we examined a few weeks ago. It is hard to believe that 5 years later, depressed by his failures, both personal and professional, he committed suicide.
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Above: Louis Le Nain, Family of Country People, 1640
Right: Vincent Van Gogh, The Potato Eaters, 1885
VINCENT VAN GOGH, Night Café, 1888. Oil on canvas, 2’ 4 1/2” x 3’. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven
Van Gogh moved to Paris in 1886 a year after he painted the Potato Eaters. There he was influenced by other Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters, and by Japanese prints. Much is made about the fact that Vincent Van Gogh battled depression. He had difficulty in his relationships and his closest confidant was his brother Theo who remained in the Netherlands. It is fortunate that Vincent wrote so many letters to Theo which today offers us insight into his state of mind and his views about art. Van Gogh captured Impressionist scenes in Paris, and beautiful landscapes when he traveled to the south of France but he pushed color to new levels that are more expressionistic than realistic and imbued all his work with an emotional intensity that was unique. In this painting called Night Cafe, he employs garish color in order to convey the atmosphere of this tavern. Writing to Theo he discusses “the clash and contrast of the most disparate reds and greens”. He describes the figures at some of the tables as “sleeping hooligans”. He wrote that the way he used color avoids “the point of view of the delusive realist” and that he focuses on “color suggesting the emotion of an ardent temperament”.
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VINCENT VAN GOGH, Starry Night, 1889. Oil on canvas, 2’ 5” x 3’ 1/4”. Museum of Modern Art, New York
In the last year of his life, Van Gogh spent more time away from Paris and lived quietly in the south of France. At one point he had himself committed to the asylum of Saint-Paul-de Mausole in Saint Rémy near Arles. This painting reflects a view of the night sky from his window with the landscape pulsating, the cypress trees straining towards the sky, and the sky itself a cosmos vibrating with stars set against the deep blue of the sky. Perhaps this can be read as an expression of his sorrow, or perhaps it is a celebration of a pure and hopeful belief that the natural world is filled with a sense of spiritual comfort. This drives his work away from the realm of impression to the newer forms of art as expression. He wrote to Theo: “looking at the stars makes me dream (…) Just as we take the train to get to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to reach a star.” Sadly, he committed suicide in the same year this was painted. To appreciate Van Gogh’s work, you have to see it in person. The texture is an overwhelming as the color choices and the swirling movement of his brush.
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PAUL GAUGUIN, Vision after the Sermon or Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, 1888. Oil on canvas, 2’ 4 3/4” x 3’ 1/2”. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
After a stock market crash, Gauguin, who was a stockbroker, found himself penniless and decided to go professional as an artist, having painted for many years as an amateur. He went to Brittany (in northwest France) inspired by the unspoiled culture there and the low cost of living. This painting shows Breton women in traditional dress after a Sunday sermon in this largely Catholic area of France. Gauguin paints them as he imagined they might be following a sermon about the story of Jacob Wrestling with the Angel. Gauguin was very much inspired by Japanese print and uses flat planes of color with a shallow background and no true perspective. He believed in the importance of the expressive power of color and in this painting, flattened the background into planes of startling red that contrasts against the mass of women in dark Breton dress with white caps who crowd the foreground. Here he also employs the idea of a continuous narrative by showing the women, who having left church, are visualizing the sermon about Jacob’s encounter with the Holy Spirit or Angel from Genesis. However, wrestling was a popular sport in Brittany so Gauguin may be conflating that pastime with the Biblical story.
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PAUL GAUGUIN, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? 1897. Oil on canvas, 4’ 6 3/4” x 12’ 3”. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
In 1888 Gauguin traveled south to Arles to be with Van Gogh at Van Gogh’s urging but his disappointment with the area and his disagreements with Van Gogh led him to seek a more radical departure from European society. Some say that Van Gogh worshipped Gauguin and was disappointed by the fact that he was condescending. Simultaneously, Van Gogh was suffering from psychosis which lead to their rupture. Leaving behind a wife and children, Gauguin traveled to Tahiti, a colony of France and lived in the countryside. Seeking a more natural way of life, he was not entirely able to escape his own personal demons. This painting was made when he was in the midst of a suicidal depression. He depicts the human life cycle in this work leading from birth to death. He employs odd colors and flattened shapes. He believed that color should be more expressionistic than realistic. Excerpts from his letters to a friend explaining his state of mind are wrenching. He writes that he drank arsenic as a way to end his life but vomited and somehow survived. This painting was made while he contemplated suicide and was questioning life itself and its inevitable end. He believed that even though it was rough, this was one of his best paintings. Although he was not recognized in his lifetime, today he is credited as a major pioneer and an artist with a unique perspective. He died a few years later, possibly from complications resulting from syphilis.
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PAUL CÉZANNE, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902–1904. Oil on canvas, 2’ 3 1/2” x 2’ 11 1/4”. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
Cezanne’s influences included Delacroix and Pissarro. Initially, he worked in an Impressionistic style but later decided he wanted to make paintings that were more structured after studying the Old Master’s paintings in the Louvre. He lived in the south of France and painted multiple views of Mount St. Victoire near his home. He wanted to avoid the Impressionist dependence on light, and he also rejected the idea of realism. He developed a more analytic approach and broke down his compositions into lines, and planes of color. Although he admired Poussin’s rendering of perspective and depth, he wanted to approach perspective by stacking planes of color rather than using true perspective. He discovered that flat planes of color lent structure to his composition without necessarily replicating nature or trying to be illusionistic. His planar approach also avoided the hazy, unstructured light of typical Impressionist landscapes. He managed to evoke a sense of the changing color and light in nature with his geometric shapes and blocks of color. His methods were revolutionary and would be further explored by the Cubists.
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PAUL CÉZANNE, Basket of Apples, ca. 1895. Oil on canvas, 2’ 3/8” x 2’ 7”. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
This still life further explores the idea of shifting planes of color and the ability for the viewer to see multiple points of view simultaneously. Cezanne reduced his fruit to simple geometric shapes and spent such a long time painting this still life that he had to use artificial fruit so that the apples wouldn’t rot. The composition is filled with shifting planes because the table edges are discontinuous, the volume of the fruit is suggested by flat planes of color, and the perspective, while deep, shifts as if the viewer is regarding the table from different perspectives. With his heavy use of planes and geometric shapes, Cezanne is able to convey a sense of movement while at the same time emphasizing the two dimensionality of the composition.
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