Assignment #5: Impressionism and Post Impressionism

Impressionism      

       

Impressionist opposed romantic ideals and instead portrayed contemporary life. They would paint outdoor to portray what the eye sees rather than what the mind knows. Impressionists painted landscapes and ordinary scenes. The canvases were painted quickly under shifting conditions, seasons and times of the day. Impressionist art was painted as what traditional painters might have made sketches.

The canvases By the Seashore and Girl with a Watering Can by Pierre-Auguste Renoir are great examples of impressionist art. Both paintings seem to be painted during the day and include a landscape. By the Seashore includes of landscape behind the girl of what appears to be a garden. A Girl with a Watering Can includes a landscape of the sea. Both paintings also seem to be painted by strokes. This means that close up the painting appears as separate strokes of paint but when seen from a distance the object becomes visible.

Post Impressionism

Post impressionist believed in the interpretation of nature. They wanted to incorporate not to see things, but to see through them at a point where it became significant and reality deeper than what superficial appearance gave. Characteristics of this kind of paintings are: bold simplified shapes, flat color areas, the strong use of line and color, linear rhythm, avoiding distraction cause by implied deep space, and flattening out depth of space.

In the canvas Starry Night Over the Rhone by Vincent van Gogh we see rhythmical linear strokes and a strong use of line and color.