Impressionism

Impressionism began in the early 1860s in Paris. It was the first of the modern movements.  A group of artists including Monet, Degas, Pissarro, Sisley, Morisot, Renoir and others who had been working together, called themselves Anonymous society of artist, painters and sculptors. They were rejected by the art establishment and so they decided to set up their own exhibition in 1874.  It was during this exhibition that the group got its name.  The Art critic Louis Leroy took the name from Claude Monet’s work called Impression: Sunrise. The group became known as the Impressionists.

 Artists painted en plein-air. They painted landscapes, scenes from modern urban (city) and suburban (in the country) life.  The artists painted outdoors rather than in the studio.  Ready- made paint in the tubes made this easier for artists to work outside the studio. They used colours which were pure and bright. Scientific research made the artists experiment with complimentary colours.  Colours were also applied side by side and the colours were optically mixed by the viewer’s eyes.  They painted quickly and the rapidly applied brush-strokes are visible in their paintings. Impressionists did not paint in detail but painted in mass of colour and light. The Impressionists were influenced by the development in photography. They were also influenced by Japanese prints. 

Impression Sunrise by Claude Monet

Impression Sunrise is celebrated as the symbol of the Impressionist Movement. It was completed during the late nineteenth century in 1872. This painting was first shown to the public in the L’Exposition des Révoltés exhibition with Monet, Bazille, Pissarro and their friends.

This painting describes a calm feeling of a misty maritime scene. Small boats float in the bay in the early morning sun  rising over the foggy harbour with ships and other various boats at port. Shadows of the boat and figures reflected by the sun’s rays can been seen on the water surface. Monet uses in his palette mostly cool, dull colours of greys and blue. He also uses splashes of warm colours of red and orange in the sky.  To the left of the canvas a four-masted clipper ship enters the harbour while smoke-stacks of steamboats fill the atmosphere. On the right hand side there are cranes and heavy machinery.

Monet’s sunrise displays several different tones of colour.  Monet’s later works exhibit a wider variety of colour juxtaposed against one another. He would come to use layer upon layer of paint in his future paintings.  He applied many layers to succeed in creating the perfect combination of pigment, but also to cover layers of paint when he changed his mind in the process of completing a painting, which happened often.  Up to fifteen layers of paint have been counted in a cross-section by scientists who have analyzed Monet’s paintings.

The brush strokes in Impression Sunrise, create a sense of rhythm which reflects the feeling produced by the motion of the sea.  Other feature of Impressionist painting was the distinct application of colour. Colours are placed side by side and are mixed optically by the viewer’s eye.  This technique can be seen in the sky and water of Impression Sunrise. 

Bal du Moulin  (1876) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

 This painting was one of the most popular works in the mid-1870s of Renior's works. It was first shown at the Impressionist exhibition in 1877. Bal du Moulin de La Galette was an open-air dance hall and cafe that was very popular with many artists living in Paris. Renoir used to go to the Sunday afternoon dances and enjoyed watching the happy couples. This inspired him to paint this scene.

Most of the figures in this painting were Renoir's friends but he also used professional models. Around the table are Renior's friends Frank Lamy, Norbert Goeneutte and George Rivere.

In Bal le Moulin de La Galette, Renoir captures a scene of real life in Parisian culture. 

Renoir's dark colours contrast well with the bright colours of the clothes that are lit by the sunlight coming in from the trees. He bathes the figures in sun and shadow. No black is used and not even outlines. This is a traditional Impressionist technique.

 Bal du Moulin de La Galette was one of the happiest compositions of Renoir's paintings. It is exhibited at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and one of the most celebrated works in the history of Impressionism.

The Child's Bath by Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt was a leading figure in the Impressionist movement. In her paintings she concentrated on the human figure and also had a fascination with Japanese prints which she had seen at an exhibition in Paris.

The composition of this painting is typical of Japanese prints. The high viewpoint looking down upon the figures, closeness of the subject and the dress at the edge of the painting are all oriental features. Also the decorative patterns on the carpet, furniture, wall and jug. She depicted her models is unusual and very natural poses.   

Olympia by Edouard Manet (1863)

Musee d’Orsay, Paris.

A female nude, tended to by a maid, while a black cat on the right hand side gazes mysteriously out at the viewer.  The maid presents Olympia with a gift of flowers, presumably a gift from a lover.

Olympia’s adornments consist of boudoir slippers, a necklace, a bracelet, a flower in her hair and a string around her neck.

The nude model in Olympia, Victorine-Louise Meurant, was also the model for Dejeuner sur l-Herbe.

 Manet used a strong brushstroke and paid little attention to smooth modelling and tone gradations of the flesh tones.

There is contrasts between a dark background and the light tones of Olympia lying on her bed which shows more attention.

Le Dejeuner sur l’Herbe by Edouard Manet 

Musee d’Orsay Paris

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Manet was influenced by the Realists (Courbet) and drawing inspiration from everyday life .Le Dejeuner sur l’Herbe was exhbited at the Salon des Refuses. The public was shocked at seeing a painting of a nude woman having lunch with two fully clothed men.

 In this painting, Manet laid the foundations of Impressionism by using large areas of flat colours to create stark, daring contrast, dark palette and strong brush strokes.

The Waterlily Pond by Claude Monet

Monet painted Waterlily Pond in his famous garden at Giverny, northwest of Paris.  It is one of his 'Series' paintings in which he recorded the same subject at different times of the day. Monet sought to record the impressions and feelings of painting outdoors- en plein air. 

In The Waterlily Pond, Monet used short, rapid brush strokes and dabs of paint to create a harmonious pattern of colour, tone and texture. Monet sometimes applied paint with a palette knife for the foliage.
The bridge with its gentle curve bisects the painting. It resembles the Japanese bridges in the prints of the Japanese artist Hiroshige.

The patterns of the sunlight on the pond's surface create an almost abstract effect. Mauves and pinks are depicted in the bottom half of the painting. The brushstrokes become smaller and lead the eye to the edge of the pond. Reflections of the trees and foliage can be seen in the water.

The waterlilies are depicted with dabs of thick white, pink and reddish paint.

 Biography

Anon, 2014. Dance at le Moulin de la Galette. [Online]
Available at: http://www.artble.com/artists/pierre-auguste_renoir/paintings/dance_at_le_moulin_de_la_galette

[Accessed 18 April 2014].

Yurasits, J., 2012. ANALYSIS OF CLAUDE MONET'S IMPRESSION,SUNRISE. [Online]
Available at: http://blogs.longwood.edu/incite/2012/01/30/analysis-of-claude-monet%E2%80%99s-impression-sunrise/
[Accessed 18 April 2014].

Books

Anderson, J., 2004. THE ART OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS. Bath: Parragon.

Janes, K. I. a. Z., 2011. Great Paintings. London