Impressionism and After

Claude Monet Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise) 1872

Impressionism• concentration on the general impression produced

by a scene or object.• the use of unmixed primary colors and small strokes

to simulate actual reflected light. • Impressionism was a major movement in painting • that developed chiefly in France during the late

19th and early 20th centuries. • Impressionist painting comprises the work produced

between about 1867 and 1886 by a group of artists who shared a set of related approaches and techniques.

• The most conspicuous characteristic of Impressionism was an attempt to accurately and objectively record visual reality in terms of transient effects of light and colour.

Claude Monet The Japanese Bridge probably 1918-24Look at the abstract paintings of Philip Guston, Jules

Olitski, or Jackson Pollock.

Claude Monet Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise) 1872France was defeated by the armies of Prussia in 1871 and Paris was put in a state of seige. Among the many refugees to arrive in England was Claude Monet. He saw the work of the English painters J.M.W. Turner and John Constable, and as we see here he experienced the notorious London fogs.This painting is (by the standards of the time) unfinished. The brushstrokes are not blended, but are allowed to remain as an element of the painting. This painting gave its name to the circle of artists around Monet who became known as the Impressionists.

J.M.W. Turner 1775-1851, 'Landscape' about 1845 In this painting, Turner uses the effects of morning mist and light reflected off water to make a painting with almost no fine detail. It is essentially an abstract painting with a few recognisable elements

Mary Cassatt The Boating Party 1893-4Mary Cassatt was an American painter whose work here clearly shows the influence of the Japanese prints that were becoming popular in France. The asymmetry of the composition also resembles a holiday snapshot.Cassatt made many paintings of domestic and family themes.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Seated Bather

c. 1883-1884Auguste Renoir’s paintings have a softness of focus that give a gentle mood to the work. Here the background of rocks and flowing water are blurred like an out of focus photograph, while the girl and the sheet are more sharpley rendered. Renoir’s paintings grew softer as his eyesight deteriorated and he is often criticised as a decorative “chocolate box” painter.