The Art of Post-Impressionism

In this essay, I will discuss the characteristics of Post-Impressionism as well as some works of artists who revolutionized the art movement.

Post impressionism can be viewed as a respond to the effects of Impressionism. This artistic movement transcends the painting from a window into a world to a window the the artist’s mind and soul. It offers a vast collection of differing artistic syles, all concentrating on the artist’s subjective vision. Hence, leaving an influence on groups rising on the turn of the twentieth century, such as the Expressionists.

Paul Gaugian and Vincent van Gogh were sentimentaly intimate with their paintings. They rejected the depiction of the empirical world and instead looked within themselves to connect with viewer on a more sophisticated level. The aesthetic vision of the Post-Impressionists was domintated by structure, order and the optical effects of color. They relied on these elements to decribe the world that they perceived. Most of the Post-Impressionists focused on abstract form and patterns, despite the individualistic nature of the movement. This led to the exploration of modern abstraction of the early twentieth century. Critics divided Post-Impressionism into two groups, one that was geometric, the precursor to Cubism, an the othr was expressive, leading to Abstract Expressionism.

The Post-Impressionists found Impressionism to have limiting factors. The informal styles that they developed were focused on emotional, symbolic and spiritual elements that were absent in impressionism. When a style becomes mainstream, it’s limitations become more obvious and thus an impeeding frustration on the successive generation of artists. Although strongly influenced by the customs of impressionism, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne and Georges Seurat, sought to push the boundaries of style with diverse creative choices.

(The Art Story, 2017)

Works of Art by Post-Impressionists

Vision After the Sermon (1888)

Artist: Paul Gauguin

Oil on canvas - National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

Gaugain painted ‘Vision After the Sermon’ while he was studying in Brittany. Through aesthetic, he depicts a vision of Jacob wrestling an angel, clearly blurring the line between reality and spirituality. While the churchgoers experiencing the vision are in the foreground, the Biblical struggle appears far away in the background, surrounded by a flat plane of vibrant red. He relies upon this abstraction of the red ground to communicate the significance of the vision as well as the heightened sentiments of the revelation.

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884-86)

Artist: Georges Seurat

Oil on canvas - The Art Institute of Chicago

“Pointillism: a technique of using individual dots of pigment which, taken together, make an image!”

Bugs Bunny’s quote, from Looney Tunes Back in Action, (2003).

Seurat introduced the technique of Pointillism in his painting Sunday Afternoon. Although the picture contains the impressionistic elements of light and shadows, it’s also an early artistic response to Impressionism. When viewed closely, the painting becomes an abstraction of coloured needlepoints, since Seurat composed the entire scene from thousands of small, precise dots of color. However, Sunday Afternoon comes into focus when viewed at an appropriate distance. Seurat carefully placed each dot relative to the ones around it to create the desired optical effect, in order to bring structure and rationale to what he had perceived as rampant disorder in Impressionism.

Moulin Rouge: La Goulue (1891)

Artist: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Lithographic Poster

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec immortalized the Montmartre dance hall in his highly stylized lithographic posters for the Moulin Rouge. This early rendition demonstrates his unique aethetic approach for representations of urban life. All figures except the central dancer are silhouettes, lending the scene the impression of three-dimensionality, despite being a flat plane. He revolutionized Impressionism by utilizing sharp silhouettes and sharply condensing the depth of the plane, conveying the rapid pace of modern lifestyles.

References

Artmovements.co.uk. (2017). Post Impressionism. [online] Available at: http://www.artmovements.co.uk/postimpressionism.htm [Accessed 18 Jan. 2017].

Artyfactory.com. (2017). Post Impressionism - The Roots of Modern Art. [online] Available at: http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/post_impressionism.htm [Accessed 18 Jan. 2017].

Looney Tunes: Back In Action. (2003). [film] USA: Joe Dante.

The Art Story. (2017). Post-Impressionism Movement, Artists and Major Works. [online] Available at: http://www.theartstory.org/movement-post-impressionism.htm [Accessed 18 Jan. 2017].