Impressionism

Impressionism

The History of Impressionism

• Impressionism is about the nature of fugitive light falling on surfaces.

• This play of moving light, as opposed to stationary light, expresses

the ephemeral quality of modernity.

• Impressionism is about the temporary, the here and now, and not about the timeless, the forever.

• Above all, Impressionism is about modernity: its faster pace and various improvements in the quality of daily life.

• The artists who seemed to quickly jot down these instances of modern life were playfully dubbed "Impressionists" and their paintings became known as "Impressionism."

Essence of Impressionism

The pure, clear colors of this scene attracted me to the image. There was very little mixing of colors and the background shapes went on easily. With a little detail, done in my usual upside down painting style the painting was completed in less than two hours.

It is a painting that could well have been painted in the era or genre of the French Impressionism period of which Van Gogh is one of the main figures. Impressionism is, in my opinion, the true essence of expressing one's heartfelt image of a scene.

Characteristics of Impressionism

Use of Colored Shadows

Depicting light and the play of shadow has long been a concern for painters. Generations of painters before the Impressionists used neutral tones and black and grays for shadows. The Impressionists abolished this way of creating shadow by using color instead. Many artists employed purples, yellows, and other colors to suggest colored shadows and reflected light. In so doing, they heightened the coloristic effects that captured their attention when painting in the open air. Hassam uses a range of dark greens and even blues to suggest shadows beneath the tree or at the edges of boulders.

Childe Hassam (1859-1935)Ten Pound Island, c. 1896Oil on canvasGift of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company

Subject Matter

The subject matter of Impressionism is often casual, everyday life, captured with an immediacy enhanced by transient effects of light and atmosphere. In this work, William Chadwick depicts the play of light and shade upon the Griswold side porch. Other American painters turned to subjects that seemed in keeping with the traditional icons of old New England. Many found inspiration in rural scenes, weathered barns, timber bridges, gardens and old homes while others depicted meandering tidal estuaries, rocky ledges, wooded uplands, and open pastures. In this painting, Chadwick shows a woman at leisure, seemingly lost in reverie, on the side porch of the Griswold House. You can see the old barns and lush old fashioned gardens in the distance.

William Chadwick (1879-1962)On the Piazza, c. 1908

Oil on canvasGift of Mrs Elizabeth Chadwick O'Connell

Photographic Influence

Photography made its appearance in the early nineteenth century at a time when scientists, philosophers and artists were intent on acquiring an objective and positive knowledge of reality. By the

time of the Impressionists, technical advances had led to the development of the snapshot camera. Blurrings, unusual

juxtapositions and the accidental cropping off of figures in snapshots created the sense of movement and spontaneity that

the Impressionist artists wanted to achieve.

Edmund Greacen (1876-1949)The Lady in the Boat, 1920Oil on canvasGift of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company

High Horizontal Line

Impressionist painters employed a wide range of compositional devices in their work. One of them was the use of a high horizon line that often creates a plunging perspective. Here, the house sits at the top of the canvas and the bottom half is filled with the gardens and pathway.

Matilda Browne (1869-1947)In Voorhees’ Garden, 1914Oil on canvasGift of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company

Famous artist of Impressionism

FRÉDERIC BAZILLE: "The artist's studio - Bazille's Studio; 9 rue de la Condamine" - 1870 - oil on canvas, 98 - 128.5 cm. - Paris, Musée d'Orsay

Friend of Monet, Sisley and Manet, and born in a wealthy family, Bazille is the tragic figure of Impressionism, dead at the Franco-Prussian War when he was only 28 years old. "The artist's studio" is widely considered his masterpiece, in which we can find some important names in the Impressionist movement: painters like Monet, Renoir and Manet; and friends like Emile Zola or Edmond Maître.

GUSTAVE CAILLEBOTTE: "Paris Street, rainy day" 1877 - oil on canvas, 212.2 - 276.2 cm. - Paris, Musée d'Orsay

This is Caillebotte's most famous and ambitious painting, exhibited at the Third Impressionist Exhibition at the Rue Le Peletier, where it was not well accepted by the critic. L'Évenement wrote about this painting: "the drawing is of good quality, but Caillebotte has forgotten to include the rain". Anyways, this is one of the best representations of 19th century Paris ever painted.

EDGAR DEGAS: “The dance class", c.1874 - oil on canvas, 83.2 x 76.8 cm - Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Degas paintings of young dancers or ballerinas are among his greatest -and of course most famous- achievements. Degas depicted these young girls as true professionals, practicing all day long under the strict tutelage of the master. In this canvas, the dance master appears at the center-right of the composition, supervising the scene like an authority at the height of his powers.

VINCENT VAN GOGH: “Starry night”, 1889 - oil on canvas, 73,7 - 92,1 cm. - New York, Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)

One of the artist's most brilliant and famous works, commonly associated to his increasing madness, and that actually was the result of van Gogh's interest for the astronomical investigations. In fact, in this painting we can observe either real or fantastic elements. On the first hand, a study made by the Griffith Park Observatory demonstrated that Vincent represented the Moon, Venus, and several stars in the exact position they occupied that clear night. On the other hand, the showy spiral that occupies great part of the work is clearly a fantastic element.

LAUDE MONET – “Nympheas (water lilies)" - oil on canvas, 219-602 cm. - 1920-1926 - Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie

Monet's series of the "Nympheas" have been described as "The Sixtine Chapel of Impressionism".