In the last third of the 19th century. French art still plays main role in the artistic life of Western European countries. At this time, many new trends emerged in painting, whose representatives were looking for their own ways and forms of creative expression.
The most striking and significant phenomenon of French art of this period was impressionism.
The Impressionists made their presence known on April 15, 1874 at a Parisian exhibition held in the open air on the Boulevard des Capucines. Here 30 young artists, whose works were rejected by the Salon, exhibited their paintings. The central place in the exhibition was given to Claude Monet’s painting “Impression. Sunrise". This composition is interesting because for the first time in the history of painting, the artist tried to convey on canvas his impression, and not the object of reality.
A representative of the publication “Charivari”, reporter Louis Leroy, visited the exhibition. It was he who first called Monet and his associates “impressionists” (from the French impression - impression), thereby expressing his negative assessment of their painting. Soon this ironic name lost its original negative meaning and entered the history of art forever.
The exhibition on the Boulevard des Capucines became a kind of manifesto, proclaiming the emergence of a new movement in painting. O. Renoir, E. Degas, A. Sisley, C. Pissarro, P. Cezanne, B. Morisot, A. Guillaumin, as well as masters of the older generation - E. Boudin, C. Daubigny, I. Ionkind took part in it.
The most important thing for the impressionists was to convey the impression of what they saw, to capture a brief moment of life on canvas. In this way, the impressionists resembled photographers. The plot had almost no meaning to them. The artists took themes for their paintings from their surroundings. Everyday life. They painted quiet streets, evening cafes, rural landscapes, city buildings, artisans at work. An important role in their paintings was played by the play of light and shadow, sunbeams jumping on objects and giving them a slightly unusual and surprisingly lively look. To see objects in natural light, to convey the changes occurring in nature in different times days, impressionist artists left their workshops and went into the open air (plein air).
The Impressionists used a new painting technique: the paints were not mixed on an easel, but were immediately applied to the canvas in separate strokes. This technique made it possible to convey a feeling of dynamics, slight vibrations of air, the movement of leaves on trees and water in a river.
Typically, the paintings of representatives of this movement did not have a clear composition. The artist transferred to the canvas a moment snatched from life, so his work resembled a photograph taken by chance. The impressionists did not adhere to clear boundaries of the genre; for example, a portrait often resembled an everyday scene.
From 1874 to 1886, the Impressionists organized 8 exhibitions, after which the group disbanded. As for the public, they, like most critics, perceived the new art with hostility (for example, the paintings of C. Monet were called “daubs”), so many artists representing this movement lived in extreme poverty, sometimes not having the means to finish what they started picture. And only towards the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. the situation has changed radically.
In their work, the impressionists used the experience of their predecessors: romantic artists (E. Delacroix, T. Géricault), realists (C. Corot, G. Courbet). They were greatly influenced by the landscapes of J. Constable.
E. Manet played a significant role in the emergence of a new movement.
Edouard Manet
Edouard Manet, born in 1832 in Paris, is one of the most significant figures in the history of world painting, who laid the foundation for impressionism.
The formation of his artistic worldview was largely influenced by the defeat of the French bourgeois revolution 1848 This event excited the young Parisian so much that he decided to take a desperate step and ran away from home, joining a sailor on a sailing ship. However, in the future he did not travel so much, giving all his spiritual and physical strength work.
Manet's parents, cultured and wealthy people, dreamed of an administrative career for their son, but their hopes were not destined to come true. Painting was what interested the young man, and in 1850 he entered the School of Fine Arts, the Couture workshop, where he received good professional training. It was here that the aspiring artist felt disgusted with academic and salon cliches in art, which cannot fully reflect what is only possible for a true master with his individual style of painting.
Therefore, after studying for some time in Couture’s workshop and gaining experience, Manet left it in 1856 and turned to the canvases of his great predecessors exhibited in the Louvre, copying and carefully studying them. His creative views were greatly influenced by the works of such masters as Titian, D. Velazquez, F. Goya and E. Delacroix; the young artist bowed before the latter. In 1857, Manet visited the great maestro and asked permission to make several copies of his “Barque Dante,” which have survived to this day in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Lyon.
Second half of the 1860s. the artist devoted himself to studying museums in Spain, England, Italy and Holland, where he copied paintings by Rembrandt, Titian and others. In 1861, his works “Portrait of Parents” and “Guitar Player” received critical acclaim and were awarded an “Honorable Mention.”
The study of the work of old masters (mainly Venetians, Spaniards of the 17th century, and later F. Goya) and its rethinking leads to the fact that by the 1860s. in Manet's art there is a contradiction, manifested in the imposition of a museum imprint on some of his early paintings, which include: “The Spanish Singer” (1860), partly “The Boy with the Dog” (1860), “The Old Musician” (1862).
As for the heroes, the artist, like the realists of the mid-19th century, finds them in the seething Parisian crowd, among those walking in the Tuileries Garden and regular visitors to cafes. Basically, this is a bright and colorful world of bohemia - poets, actors, artists, models, participants in the Spanish bullfight: “Music in the Tuileries” (1860), “Street Singer” (1862), “Lola from Valencia” (1862), “Breakfast at grass" (1863), "Flutist" (1866), "Portrait of E. Zsl" (1868).
Among the early paintings, a special place is occupied by “Portrait of Parents” (1861), which is a very accurate realistic sketch appearance and the character of the elderly couple. The aesthetic significance of the painting lies not only in the detailed penetration into the spiritual world of the characters, but also in how accurately the combination of observation and richness of pictorial development is conveyed, indicating knowledge of the artistic traditions of E. Delacroix.
Another canvas, which is a programmatic work of the painter and, it must be said, very typical of his early work, is “Breakfast on the Grass” (1863). In this picture, Manet took a certain plot composition, completely devoid of any significance.
The painting can be viewed as an image of two artists having breakfast in the lap of nature, surrounded by female models (in fact, the artist’s brother Eugene Manet, F. Lenkoff, and one female model, Victorine Meran, whose services Manet resorted to quite often, posed for the painting). One of them entered the stream, and the other, naked, sits in the company of two men dressed in artistic fashion. As you know, the motif of juxtaposing a dressed male body with a naked female body is traditional and goes back to Giorgione’s painting “Rural Concert”, located in the Louvre.
The compositional arrangement of the figures partially reproduces the famous Renaissance engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi from a painting by Raphael. This canvas, as it were, polemically asserts two positions interconnected with each other. One is the need to overcome the cliches of salon art, which has lost its true connection with the great artistic tradition, and to directly turn to the realism of the Renaissance and the 17th century, i.e., the true origins of realistic art of modern times. Another provision confirms the right and duty of the artist to depict the characters around him from everyday life. At that time, such a combination carried a certain contradiction. Most believed that a new stage in the development of realism could not be achieved by filling old compositional schemes with new types and characters. But Edouard Manet managed to overcome the duality of the principles of painting in his early period of creativity.
However, despite the traditional nature of the plot and composition, as well as the presence of paintings by salon masters depicting naked mythical beauties in frank seductive poses, Manet’s canvas caused a big scandal among modern bourgeoisie. The public was shocked by the juxtaposition of a naked female body with prosaically everyday, modern male attire.
As for pictorial norms, “Breakfast on the Grass” was written in a compromise typical of the 1860s. a manner characterized by a tendency toward dark colors, black shadows, and also a not always consistent use of plein air lighting and open color. If we look at the preliminary sketch done in watercolor, then it is noticeable on it (more than on the painting itself) how great the master’s interest is in new pictorial problems.
The painting “Olympia” (1863), which shows an outline of a reclining naked woman, seems to refer to generally accepted compositional traditions - a similar image is found in Giorgione, Titian, Rembrandt and D. Velazquez. However, in his creation, Manet takes a different path, following F. Goya (“Nude Macha”) and rejecting the mythological motivation of the plot, the interpretation of the image introduced by the Venetians and partially preserved by D. Velazquez (“Venus with a Mirror”).
“Olympia” is not at all a poetically rethought image of female beauty, but an expressive, masterfully executed portrait, accurately and, one might even say, somewhat coldly conveying the resemblance to Victorine Meran, Manet’s constant model. The painter reliably shows the natural pallor of the body of a modern woman who is afraid of the sun's rays. While the old masters emphasized the poetic beauty of the naked body, the musicality and harmony of its rhythms, Manet focuses on conveying motifs of vital character, completely moving away from the poetic idealization inherent in his predecessors. So, for example, the gesture with the left hand of Giorgione’s Venus in “Olympia” takes on an almost vulgar tone in its indifference. The sitter’s indifferent, but at the same time carefully capturing the viewer’s gaze is extremely characteristic, contrasted with the self-absorption of Giorgione’s Venus and the sensitive dreaminess of Titian’s Venus of Urbino.
In this picture there are signs of a transition to the next stage of development creative manner painter. There is a rethinking of the usual compositional scheme, consisting of prosaic observation and a picturesque and artistic vision of the world. The juxtaposition of instantly captured sharp contrasts contributes to the destruction of the balanced compositional harmony of the old masters. Thus, the statics of a model posing, as it were, collide with the dynamics in the images of a black woman and a black cat arching its back. The changes also affect the technique of painting, which gives a new understanding of the figurative tasks of artistic language. Edouard Manet, like many other impressionists, in particular Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro, abandons the outdated system of painting that developed in the 17th century. (underpainting, copywriting, glazing). From this time on, canvases began to be painted using a technique called “a la prima,” characterized by greater spontaneity and emotionality, close to etudes and sketches.
The period of transition from early to mature creativity, which occupied almost the entire second half of the 1860s for Manet, is represented by such paintings as “The Flutist” (1866), “The Balcony” (c. 1868-1869), etc.
The first painting, on a neutral olive-gray background, depicts a boy musician raising a flute to his lips. The expressiveness of the subtle movement, the rhythmic echo of the iridescent gold buttons on the blue uniform with the light and quick sliding of the fingers along the holes of the flute speak of the innate artistry and subtle observation of the master. Despite the fact that the painting style here is quite dense, the color is weighty, and the artist has not yet turned to plein air, this painting, to a greater extent than all the others, anticipates the mature period of Manet’s work. As for “Balcony,” it is closer to “Olympia” than to the works of the 1870s.
In 1870-1880 Manet becomes the leading painter of his time. And although the impressionists considered him their ideological leader and inspirer, and he himself always agreed with them in interpreting the fundamental views on art, his work is much broader and does not fit into the framework of any one direction. Manet's so-called impressionism is, in fact, closer to art Japanese masters. He simplifies the motifs, bringing the decorative and the real into balance, creating a generalized idea of what he saw: a pure impression, devoid of distracting details, an expression of the joy of sensation (“On the Seashore”, 1873).
In addition, as the dominant genre, he strives to preserve a compositionally complete picture, where the main place is given to the image of a person. Manet's art is the final stage in the development of the centuries-old tradition of realistic plot picture, the origin of which occurred during the Renaissance.
In Manet's later works there is a tendency to move away from a detailed interpretation of the details of the environment surrounding the portrayed hero. Thus, in Mallarmé’s portrait, full of nervous dynamics, the artist focuses on the seemingly accidentally observed gesture of the poet, who, in a dreamy mood, lowered his hand with a smoking cigar onto the table. Despite all the sketchiness, the main thing in Mallarmé’s character and mental makeup is captured surprisingly accurately, with great conviction. The in-depth characterization of the inner world of the individual, characteristic of the portraits of J. L. David and J. O. D. Ingres, is replaced here by a more acute and direct characteristic. Such is the tenderly poetic portrait of Berthe Morisot with a fan (1872) and the elegant pastel image of George Moore (1879).
The artist’s work includes works related to historical themes and major events in social life. However, it should be noted that these paintings are less successful, because problems of this kind were alien to his artistic talent, range of ideas and ideas about life.
For example, an appeal to the events of the Civil War between the North and the South in the United States resulted in the depiction of the sinking of a corsair ship by the northerners of the southerners (“The Battle of the Kirsezha with the Alabama”, 1864), and the episode can be largely attributed to the landscape where the military the ships serve as staff. “The Execution of Maximilian” (1867), essentially, has the character of a genre sketch, devoid of not only interest in the conflict of the fighting Mexicans, but also the very drama of the event.
The theme of modern history was touched upon by Manet during the days of the Paris Commune (“Execution of the Communards,” 1871). The sympathetic attitude towards the Communards is a credit to the author of the picture, who had never before been interested in such events. But nevertheless, its artistic value is lower than the other paintings, since in fact the compositional scheme of “The Execution of Maximilian” is repeated here, and the author limits himself to just a sketch, which does not at all reflect the meaning of the brutal collision of two opposing worlds.
Subsequently, Manet no longer turned to the historical genre, which was alien to him, preferring to reveal the artistic and expressive principles in episodes, finding them in the flow of everyday life. At the same time, he carefully selected particularly characteristic moments, looked for the most expressive point of view, and then reproduced them with great skill in his paintings.
The charm of most of the works of this period is due not so much to the significance of the event depicted, but to the dynamism and witty observation of the author.
A remarkable example of a plein air group composition is the painting “In the Boat” (1874), where the combination of the outline of the stern of a sailboat, the restrained energy of the helmsman’s movements, the dreamy grace of a seated lady, the transparency of the air, the feeling of the freshness of the breeze and the sliding movement of the boat creates an indescribable picture, full of light joy and freshness.
A special niche in Manet’s work is occupied by still lifes, characteristic of different periods of his work. Thus, the early still life “Peonies” (1864-1865) depicts blooming red and white-pink buds, as well as flowers that have already blossomed and are beginning to fade, dropping their petals onto the tablecloth covering the table. More late works are distinguished by their casual sketchiness. In them, the painter tries to convey the radiance of flowers, shrouded in an atmosphere permeated with light. This is the painting “Roses in a Crystal Glass” (1882-1883).
At the end of his life, Manet, apparently, experienced dissatisfaction with what he had achieved and tried to return to writing large, complete plot compositions at a different level of skill. At this time, he began to work on one of the most significant paintings - “Bar at the Folies Bergere” (1881-1882), in which he approached a new level, a new stage in the development of his art, interrupted by death (as is known, in While working, Manet was seriously ill). In the center of the composition is the figure of a young female saleswoman, facing the viewer. A slightly tired, attractive blonde, dressed in a dark dress with a deep waist, stands against the backdrop of a huge mirror that occupies the entire wall, which reflects the glow of flickering light and the vague, blurry outlines of the public sitting at cafe tables. The woman is turned to face the hall, in which the viewer himself seems to be located. This peculiar technique gives, at first glance, a traditional picture a certain instability, suggesting a comparison of the real and reflected worlds. At the same time, the central axis of the picture turns out to be shifted to the right corner, in which, according to the characteristic of the 1870s. reception, the frame of the picture slightly blocks the figure of a man in a top hat, reflected in the mirror, talking to a young saleswoman.
Thus, in this work, the classical principle of symmetry and stability is combined with a dynamic shift to the side, as well as with fragmentation, when a certain moment (fragment) is snatched from a single flow of life.
It would be wrong to think that the plot of “The Bar at the Folies Bergere” is devoid of significant content and represents a kind of monumentalization of the unimportant. The figure of a young woman, but already internally tired and indifferent to the surrounding masquerade, her wandering gaze turned to nowhere, alienation from the illusory shine of life behind her, introduce a significant semantic shade into the work, striking the viewer with its unexpectedness.
The viewer admires the unique freshness of two roses standing on the bar counter in a crystal glass with sparkling edges; and immediately a comparison of these luxurious flowers with a half-withered rose in the stuffiness of the hall, pinned to the neckline of the saleswoman’s dress, arises. Looking at the picture, you can see a unique contrast between the freshness of her half-open chest and her indifferent gaze wandering around the crowd. This work is considered programmatic in the artist’s work, since it presents elements of all his favorite themes and genres: portrait, still life, various lighting effects, crowd movement.
In general, the legacy left by Manet is represented by two aspects, especially clearly manifested in his last job. Firstly, with his work he completes and exhausts the development of the classical realistic traditions of French art of the 19th century century, and secondly, it lays in art the first shoots of those trends that will be picked up and developed by seekers of new realism in the 20th century.
The painter received full and official recognition in the last years of his life, namely in 1882, when he was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor (the main award of France). Manet died in 1883 in Paris.
Claude Monet
Claude Monet, French artist, one of the founders of impressionism, was born in 1840 in Paris.
As the son of a modest grocer who moved from Paris to Rouen, young Monet painted at the beginning of his career funny cartoons, then studied with the Rouen landscape painter Eugene Boudin, one of the creators of the plein air realistic landscape. Boudin not only convinced the future painter of the need to work in the open air, but also managed to instill in him a love of nature, careful observation and truthful transmission of what he saw.
In 1859, Monet left for Paris with the goal of becoming a real artist. His parents dreamed of him entering the School of Fine Arts, but the young man does not live up to their hopes and plunges headlong into bohemian life, making numerous acquaintances in the artistic community. Completely deprived of financial support from his parents, and therefore without a means of livelihood, Monet was forced to join the army. However, even after returning from Algeria, where he had to carry out difficult service, he continues to lead his previous lifestyle. A little later, he met I. Ionkind, who fascinated him with his work on full-scale sketches. And then he visits Suisse’s studio, studies for some time in the studio of the then famous academic painter M. Gleyre, and also becomes close to a group of young artists (J. F. Bazille, C. Pissarro, E. Degas, P. Cezanne, O . Renoir, A. Sisley, etc.), who, like Monet himself, were looking for new ways of development in art.
The greatest influence on the aspiring painter was not the school of M. Gleyre, but friendship with like-minded people, ardent critics of salon academicism. It was thanks to this friendship, mutual support, the opportunity to exchange experiences and share achievements that a new painting system was born, which later received the name “impressionism.”
The basis of the reform was that the work took place outdoors, in the open air. At the same time, the artists painted in the open air not only sketches, but also the entire picture. Directly in contact with nature, they became increasingly convinced that the color of objects constantly changes depending on changes in lighting, the state of the atmosphere, the proximity of other objects that cast color reflexes, and many other factors. It was these changes that they sought to convey through their works.
In 1865, Monet decided to paint a large canvas “in the spirit of Manet, but in the open air.” It was “Lunch on the Grass” (1866) - his first most significant work, depicting smartly dressed Parisians who went out of town and sat in the shade of a tree around a tablecloth laid on the ground. The work is characterized by the traditional nature of its closed and balanced composition. However, the artist’s attention is directed not so much at the ability to show human characters or create an expressive subject composition, but rather at fitting human figures into the surrounding landscape and conveying the atmosphere of ease and calm relaxation that reigns among them. To create this effect, the artist pays great attention to the transfer of sunlight breaking through the foliage, playing on the tablecloth and dress of the young lady sitting in the center. Monet accurately captures and conveys the play of color reflexes on the tablecloth and the translucency of a light woman's dress. With these discoveries, the old system of painting begins to be broken, placing emphasis on dark shadows and a dense material manner of execution.
From this time on, Monet's approach to the world became landscape. Human character and relationships between people interest him less and less. Events of 1870-1871 forced Monet to emigrate to London, from where he travels to Holland. Upon his return, he painted several paintings that became programmatic in his work. These include “Impression. Sunrise (1872), Lilacs in the Sun (1873), Boulevard des Capucines (1873), Field of Poppies at Argenteuil (1873), etc.
In 1874, some of them were exhibited at the famous exhibition organized by the Anonymous Society of Painters, Artists and Engravers, headed by Monet himself. After the exhibition, Monet and a group of like-minded people began to be called impressionists (from the French impression - impression). By this time, Monet’s artistic principles, characteristic of the first stage of his work, had finally formed into a certain system.
In the plein air landscape “Lilacs in the Sun” (1873), depicting two women sitting in the shade of large bushes of blooming lilacs, their figures are treated in the same manner and with the same intensity as the bushes themselves and the grass on which they sit. The figures of people are only part of the overall landscape, while the feeling of the soft warmth of early summer, the freshness of young foliage, the haze of a sunny day are conveyed with extraordinary vividness and immediate convincing, not typical for that time.
Another painting - “Boulevard des Capucines” - reflects all the main contradictions, advantages and disadvantages of the impressionist method. A moment snatched from the flow of life is very accurately conveyed here. big city: the feeling of the dull monotonous noise of street traffic, the damp transparency of the air, the rays of the February sun sliding along the bare branches of trees, a film of grayish clouds covering the blue sky... The picture represents a fleeting, but nevertheless vigilant and noticing eye of the artist, and a sensitive artist at that, responding to all phenomena of life. The fact that the glance is really cast by chance is emphasized by thoughtful compositional
technique: the frame of the picture on the right seems to cut off the figures of the men standing on the balcony.
The canvases of this period give the viewer the feeling that he himself is the protagonist of this celebration of life, filled with sunlight and the incessant hubbub of an elegant crowd.
Having settled in Argenteuil, Monet painted with great interest the Seine, bridges, light sailing ships gliding along the water surface...
The landscape captivates him so much that, succumbing to an irresistible attraction, he builds himself a small boat and in it gets to his native Rouen, and there, amazed by the picture he saw, he splashes out his feelings in sketches that depict the outskirts of the city and large seas entering the mouth of the river ships (“Argenteuil”, 1872; “Sailing boat in Argenteuil”, 1873-1874).
1877 was marked by the creation of a number of paintings depicting the Saint-Lazare station. They planned new stage in the works of Monet.
From that time on, sketch paintings, distinguished by their completeness, gave way to works in which the main thing was an analytical approach to what was depicted (“Gare Saint-Lazare”, 1877). The change in his painting style is associated with changes in the artist’s personal life: his wife Camilla becomes seriously ill, and the family is beset by poverty caused by the birth of their second child.
After the death of his wife, Alice Goshede, whose family rented the same house in Veteil as Monet, took over the care of the children. This woman later became his second wife. After some time, Monet's financial situation improved so much that he was able to buy his own house in Giverny, where he worked for the rest of the time.
The painter has a keen sense of new trends, which allows him to anticipate many things with amazing insight.
from what would be achieved by artists of the late XIX - early XX centuries. It changes the attitude towards color and subjects
paintings Now his attention is concentrated on the expressiveness of the color scheme of the stroke in isolation from its subject correlation, enhancing decorativeness. Ultimately, he creates panel paintings. Simple subjects 1860-1870. give way to complex motifs rich in various associative connections: epic images of rocks, elegiac ranks of poplars (“Rocks at Belle-Isle”, 1866; “Poplars”, 1891).
This period is marked by numerous serial works: compositions “Haystacks” (“Haystack in the snow. A gloomy day”, 1891; “Haystacks. End of the day. Autumn”, 1891), images of the Rouen Cathedral (“Rouen Cathedral at noon”, 1894, etc. .), views of London (“Fog in London”, 1903, etc.). Still working in an impressionistic manner and using a varied tonality of his palette, the master sets the goal of conveying with the greatest accuracy and reliability how the illumination of the same objects can change in different weather conditions during the day.
If you take a closer look at the series of paintings about the Rouen Cathedral, it will become clear that the cathedral here is not the embodiment of the complex world of thoughts, experiences and ideals of the people of medieval France, and not even a monument of art and architecture, but a certain background, starting from which the author conveys the state of life light and atmosphere. The viewer feels the freshness of the morning breeze, the midday heat, the soft shadows of the approaching evening, which are true heroes this series.
However, in addition to this, such paintings are unusual decorative compositions, which, thanks to involuntary associative connections, give the viewer the impression of the dynamics of time and space.
Having moved with his family to Giverny, Monet spent a lot of time in the garden, engaged in its pictorial organization. This activity influenced the artist’s views so much that instead of the everyday world inhabited by people, he began to depict on his canvases the mysterious decorative world of water and plants (“Irises at Giverny”, 1923; “Weeping Willows”, 1923). Hence the views of ponds with water lilies floating in them, shown in the most famous series of his late panels (“White water lilies. Harmony of blue”, 1918-1921).
Giverny became the artist's last refuge, where he died in 1926.
It should be noted that the impressionist style of writing was very different from the academic style. The impressionists, in particular Monet and his associates, were interested in the expressiveness of the color scheme of the brushstroke in isolation from its subject correlation. That is, they painted with separate strokes, using only pure colors that were not mixed on the palette, while the desired tone was already formed in the viewer’s perception. So, for the foliage of trees and grass, along with green, blue and yellow were used, giving the desired shade of green at a distance. This method gave the works of the impressionist masters a special purity and freshness inherent only to them. Separately placed strokes created the impression of a relief and seemingly vibrating surface.
Pierre Auguste Renoir
Pierre Auguste Renoir, French painter, graphic artist and sculptor, one of the leaders of the Impressionist group, was born on February 25, 1841 in Limoges, into a poor family of a provincial tailor, who moved to Paris in 1845. The talent of young Renoir was noticed by his parents quite early, and in 1854 they assigned him to a porcelain painting workshop. While visiting the workshop, Renoir simultaneously studied at the school of drawing and applied arts, and in 1862, having saved money (making money by painting coats of arms, curtains and fans), the young artist entered the School of Fine Arts. A little later he began to visit the workshop of C. Gleyre, where he became close friends with A. Sisley, F. Basil and C. Monet. He often visited the Louvre, studying the works of such masters as A. Watteau, F. Boucher, O. Fragonard.
Communication with a group of impressionists leads Renoir to develop his own style of vision. For example, in contrast to them, throughout his entire work he turned to the image of a person as the main motive of his paintings. In addition, his work, although it was plein air, never dissolved
the plastic weight of the material world in the shimmering environment of light.
The painter's use of chiaroscuro, giving the image an almost sculptural form, makes his early works similar to the works of some realist artists, in particular G. Courbet. However, a lighter and lighter color scheme, unique to Renoir, distinguishes this master from his predecessors (“Mother Anthony’s Tavern”, 1866). An attempt to convey the natural plasticity of the movement of human figures in the open air is noticeable in many of the artist’s works. In “Portrait of Alfred Sisley with his Wife” (1868), Renoir tries to show the feeling that binds a married couple walking arm in arm: Sisley paused for a moment and tenderly leaned towards his wife. In this painting, with a composition reminiscent of a photographic frame, the motive of movement is still random and practically unconscious. However, compared to The Tavern, the figures in Portrait of Alfred Sisley and his Wife seem more relaxed and lively. Another important point is significant: the spouses are depicted in nature (in the garden), but Renoir does not yet have experience in depicting human figures in the open air.
“Portrait of Alfred Sisley with his wife” is the artist’s first step on the path to new art. The next stage in the artist’s work was the painting “Bathing on the Seine” (c. 1869), where the figures of people walking along the shore, bathers, as well as boats and clumps of trees are brought together into a single whole by the light-air atmosphere of a beautiful summer day. The painter already freely uses colored shadows and light-color reflexes. His stroke becomes alive and energetic.
Like C. Monet, Renoir is interested in the problem of including the human figure in the world environment. The artist solves this problem in the painting “Swing” (1876), but in a slightly different way than C. Monet, in whom the figures of people seem to dissolve in the landscape. Renoir introduces several key figures into his composition. The picturesque manner in which this canvas is made very naturally conveys the atmosphere of a hot summer day, softened by shadow. The picture is permeated by a feeling of happiness and joy.
In the mid-1870s. Renoir painted such works as the sun-pierced landscape “Path in the Meadows” (1875), filled with light lively movement and the elusive play of bright light highlights “Moulin de la Galette” (1876), as well as “Umbrellas” (1883), “Lodge” (1874) and The End of Breakfast (1879). These beautiful paintings were created despite the fact that the artist had to work in a difficult environment, since after the scandalous exhibition of the Impressionists (1874), Renoir’s work (as well as the work of his like-minded people) was subject to sharp attacks from the so-called art connoisseurs. However, during this difficult time, Renoir felt the support of two people close to him: his brother Edmond (publisher of La Vie Moderne magazine) and Georges Charpentier (owner of the weekly). They helped the artist get a small amount of money and rent a studio.
It should be noted that in compositional terms, the landscape “Path in the Meadows” is very close to “Maques” (1873) by C. Monet, however, the pictorial texture of Renoir’s canvases is distinguished by greater density and materiality. Another difference regarding composition is the sky. In Renoir, for whom the materiality of the natural world was important, the sky occupies only a small part of the picture, while in Monet, who depicted the sky with gray-silver or snow-white clouds running across it, it rises above a slope dotted with blooming poppies, enhancing the feeling a sun-drenched airy summer day.
In the compositions “Moulin de la Galette” (with which real success came to the artist), “Umbrellas”, “Lodge” and “The End of Breakfast”, interest in a seemingly accidentally observed life situation is clearly expressed (like in Manet and Degas); It is also typical to turn to the technique of cutting off the compositional space with a frame, which is also characteristic of E. Degas and partly E. Manet. But, unlike the latter’s works, Renoir’s paintings are distinguished by greater calm and contemplation.
The canvas “Lodge”, in which, as if looking through binoculars at rows of chairs, the author inadvertently comes across a box in which a beauty with an indifferent look is seated. Her companion, on the contrary, looks at the audience with great interest. Part of his figure is cut off by the picture frame.
The Works "The End of Breakfast" presents an ordinary episode: two ladies dressed in white and black, as well as their gentleman, are finishing breakfast in a shady corner of the garden. The table is already set for coffee, which is served in cups made of fine pale blue porcelain. The women are waiting for the continuation of the story, which the man interrupted in order to light a cigarette. This picture is not dramatic or deeply psychological; it attracts the viewer's attention with its subtle rendering of the smallest shades of mood.
A similar feeling of calm cheerfulness permeates “The Rowers’ Breakfast” (1881), full of light and lively movement. The figure of a pretty young lady sitting with a dog in her arms exudes enthusiasm and charm. The artist depicted his future wife in the painting. The canvas “Nude” (1876) is filled with the same joyful mood, only in a slightly different refraction. The freshness and warmth of the young woman’s body contrasts with the bluish-cold fabric of the sheets and linen, which form a kind of background.
A characteristic feature of Renoir's work is that man is deprived of the complex psychological and moral fullness that is characteristic of the painting of almost all realist artists. This feature is inherent not only in works like “The Nude” (where the nature of the plot motif allows for the absence of such qualities), but also in Renoir’s portraits. However, this does not deprive his painting of the charm contained in the cheerfulness of the characters.
These qualities are felt to the greatest extent in famous portrait Renoir's "Girl with a Fan" (c. 1881). The canvas is the link that connects Renoir's early work with his later, characterized by a colder and more refined color scheme. During this period, the artist, to a greater extent than before, develops an interest in clear lines, clear drawing, and also in the locality of color. The artist assigns a large role to rhythmic repetitions (the semicircle of a fan - the semicircular back of a red chair - sloping girlish shoulders).
However, all these trends in Renoir’s painting manifested themselves most fully in the second half of the 1880s, when there was disappointment in his work and impressionism in general. Having destroyed some of his works, which the artist considered “dried,” he begins to study the work of N. Poussin and turns to the drawing of J. O. D. Ingres. As a result, his palette acquires a special luminosity. The so-called begins “pearl period”, known to us from such works as “Girls at the Piano” (1892), “Falling Bather” (1897), as well as portraits of sons - Pierre, Jean and Claude - “Gabriel and Jean” (1895), “ Coco" (1901).
In addition, from 1884 to 1887, Renoir worked on creating a series of variants big picture"Bathers". In them he manages to achieve clear compositional completeness. However, all attempts to revive and rethink the traditions of the great predecessors, while turning to something far from big problems modern plot, ended in failure. “Bathers” only alienated the artist from the direct and fresh perception of life that was previously characteristic of him. All this largely explains the fact that since the 1890s. Renoir's creativity becomes weaker: orange-red tones begin to predominate in the color of his works, and the background, devoid of airy depth, becomes decorative and flat.
Since 1903, Renoir settled in his own house in Cagnes-sur-Mer, where he continued to work on landscapes, compositions with human figures and still lifes, in which the reddish tones already mentioned above predominate for the most part. Being seriously ill, the artist can no longer hold his hands on his own, and they are tied to his hands. However, after some time, I have to give up painting altogether. Then the master turns to sculpture. Together with his assistant Guino, he creates several striking sculptures, distinguished by the beauty and harmony of silhouettes, joy and life-affirming power (“Venus”, 1913; “The Great Washerwoman”, 1917; “Motherhood”, 1916). Renoir died in 1919 at his estate located in the Alpes-Maritimes.
Edgar Degas
Edgar Hilaire Germain Degas, French painter, graphic artist and sculptor, the largest representative of impressionism, was born in 1834 in Paris in the family of a wealthy banker. Being well off, he received an excellent education at the prestigious Lyceum named after Louis the Great (1845-1852). For some time he was a student at the Faculty of Law at the University of Paris (1853), but, feeling a craving for art, he left the university and began to attend the studio of the artist L. Lamothe (a student and follower of Ingres) and at the same time (from 1855) the School
fine arts However, in 1856, unexpectedly for everyone, Degas left Paris and went to Italy for two years, where he studied with great interest and, like many painters, copied the works of the great masters of the Renaissance. His greatest attention was paid to the works of A. Mantegna and P. Veronese, whose inspired and colorful painting the young artist highly valued.
Degas's early works (mostly portraits) are characterized by clear and precise drawing and subtle observation, combined with an exquisitely restrained manner of painting (sketches of his brother, 1856-1857; drawing of the head of Baroness Belleli, 1859) or with striking truthfulness of execution (portrait of an Italian beggar women, 1857).
Returning to his homeland, Degas turned to the historical theme, but gave it an interpretation that was uncharacteristic for that time. Thus, in the composition “Spartan girls challenge young men to a competition” (1860), the master, ignoring the conventional idealization of the ancient plot, strives to embody it as it could have been in reality. Antiquity here, as in his other paintings historical topic, as if passed through the prism of modernity: images of girls and boys of Ancient Sparta with angular shapes, thin bodies and sharp movements, depicted against the backdrop of an everyday prosaic landscape, are far from classical ideas and are more reminiscent of ordinary teenagers in the Parisian suburbs than of idealized Spartans.
Throughout the 1860s, the creative method of the novice painter was gradually formed. In this decade, along with less significant historical paintings (“Semiramis watching the construction of Babylon”, 1861), the artist created several portrait works, in which observation and realistic skill were honed. In this regard, the most indicative painting is “Head of a Young Woman,” created by
in 1867
In 1861, Degas met E. Manet and soon became a regular at the Guerbois café, where young innovators of that time gathered: C. Monet, O. Renoir, A. Sisley, etc. But if they are primarily interested in landscape and plein air work , then Degas focuses more on the theme of the city and Parisian types. He is attracted to everything that is in motion; the static leaves him indifferent.
Degas was a very attentive observer, subtly capturing everything characteristically expressive in the endless change of life phenomena. Thus conveying the crazy rhythm of the big city, he comes to the creation of one of the variants of the everyday genre, dedicated to the capitalist city.
In the work of this period, portraits especially stand out, among which there are many that are considered to be the pearls of world painting. Among them are a portrait of the Belleli family (c. 1860-1862), a portrait of a woman (1867), and a portrait of the artist’s father listening to guitarist Pagan (c. 1872).
Some paintings from the 1870s are distinguished by their photographic dispassion in their depiction of characters. An example is the painting entitled “Dancing Lesson” (c. 1874), executed in a cold bluish color scheme. With amazing accuracy, the author records the movements of ballerinas taking lessons from an old dance master. However, there are paintings of a different nature, such as, for example, the portrait of Viscount Lepic with his daughters on the Place de la Concorde, dating back to 1873. Here, the sober prosaic nature of the fixation is overcome due to the pronounced dynamics of the composition and the extraordinary sharpness of the transfer of Lepic’s character; in a word, this happens thanks to the artistically acute and sharp disclosure of the characteristically expressive beginning of life.
It should be noted that the works of this period reflect the artist’s view of the event he depicts. His paintings destroy the usual academic canons. Degas's "Musicians of the Orchestra" (1872) is based on the sharp contrast created by juxtaposing the heads of the musicians (painted in close-up) and the small figure of a dancer bowing to the audience. Interest in expressive movement and its exact copying on canvas is also observed in numerous sketch figurines of dancers (one must not forget that Degas was also a sculptor), created by the master in order to capture the essence of the movement and its logic as accurately as possible.
The artist was interested in the professional character of movements, poses and gestures, devoid of any poeticization. This is especially noticeable in works dedicated to horse racing (“Young Jockey”, 1866-1868; “Horse racing in the provinces. Crew at the races”, ca. 1872; “Jockeys in front of the stands”, ca. 1879, etc.). In "Ride of the Racehorses" (1870s), the analysis of the professional side of the matter is given with almost reporter's precision. If you compare this canvas with T. Gericault’s painting “The Races at Epsom,” it immediately becomes clear that, due to its obvious analyticity, Degas’s work is much inferior to the emotional composition of T. Gericault. The same qualities are inherent in Degas’s pastel “Ballerina on Stage” (1876-1878), which is not one of his masterpieces.
However, despite this one-sidedness, and perhaps even thanks to it, Degas’s art is distinguished by its persuasiveness and content. In his programmatic works, he very accurately and with great skill reveals the full depth and complexity of the internal state of the depicted person, as well as the atmosphere of alienation and loneliness in which contemporary society, including the author himself, lives.
These sentiments were first recorded in the small canvas “Dancer in Front of a Photographer” (1870s), on which the artist painted a lonely figure of a dancer frozen in a gloomy and gloomy environment in a practiced pose in front of a bulky photographic camera. Subsequently, the feeling of bitterness and loneliness penetrates into such paintings as “Absinthe” (1876), “Cafe Singer” (1878), “Linen Ironers” (1884) and many others. In “Absinthe”, in the dim light of a corner of an almost deserted cafe Degas showed two lonely figures of a man and a woman, indifferent to each other and to the whole world. The dull greenish shimmer of a glass filled with absinthe emphasizes the sadness and hopelessness evident in the woman’s gaze and posture. A pale bearded man with a puffy face is gloomy and thoughtful.
Degas's work is characterized by a genuine interest in the characters of people, in the unique features of their behavior, as well as a successfully constructed dynamic composition that replaced the traditional one. Its main principle is to find the most expressive angles in reality itself. This distinguishes the work of Degas from the art of other impressionists (in particular, C. Monet, A. Sisley and, in part, O. Renoir) with their contemplative approach to the surrounding world. The artist used this principle already in his early work “Cotton Reception Office in New Orleans” (1873), which aroused the admiration of E. Goncourt for its sincerity and realism. These are his later works “Miss Lala in Fernando’s Circus” (1879) and “Dancers in the Foyer” (1879), where within the same motif a subtle analysis of the change of different movements is given.
Sometimes some researchers use this technique to indicate the closeness of Degas and A. Watteau. Although both artists are indeed similar in some respects (A. Watteau also focuses on the various shades of the same movement), however, it is enough to compare A. Watteau’s drawing with the image of the violinist’s movements from the mentioned composition by Degas, and the contrast of their artistic techniques is immediately felt.
If A. Watteau tries to convey the subtle transitions of one movement into another, so to speak, halftones, then for Degas, on the contrary, an energetic and contrasting change of motives of movement is characteristic. He strives more for their comparison and sharp collision, often making the figure angular. In this way, the artist tries to capture the dynamics of the development of contemporary life.
In the late 1880s - early 1890s. in Degas's work there is a predominance of decorative motifs, which is probably due to some dulling of his vigilance artistic perception. If in the paintings of the early 1880s, dedicated to the nude (Woman Coming Out of the Bathroom, 1883), there is a greater interest in the vivid expressiveness of movement, then by the end of the decade the artist’s interest noticeably shifted towards depicting female beauty. This is especially noticeable in the painting “Bathing” (1886), where the painter with great skill conveys the charm of the flexible and graceful body of a young woman bending over her pelvis.
Artists have painted similar paintings before, but Degas takes a slightly different path. If the heroines of other masters always felt the presence of the viewer, here the painter depicts a woman as if she does not care at all about how she looks from the outside. And although such situations look beautiful and completely natural, the images in such works often approach the grotesque. After all, any poses and gestures, even the most intimate ones, are quite appropriate here; they are fully justified by functional necessity: when washing, reach the right place, unfasten the clasp on the back, slip, and grab onto something.
In the last years of his life, Degas was more involved in sculpture than painting. This is partly due to eye disease and blurred vision. He creates the same images that are present in his paintings: he sculpts figurines of ballerinas, dancers, and horses. At the same time, the artist tries to convey the dynamics of movements as accurately as possible. Degas does not abandon painting, which, although it fades into the background, does not completely disappear from his work.
Due to the formally expressive, rhythmic construction of compositions, the craving for a decorative-planar interpretation of images, Degas’s paintings, executed in the late 1880s and during the 1890s. turn out to be devoid of realistic persuasiveness and become like decorative panels.
Degas spent the rest of his life in his native Paris, where he died in 1917.
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro, French painter and graphic artist, was born in 1830 on the island. St. Thomas (Antilles) in the family of a merchant. He received his education in Paris, where he studied from 1842 to 1847. After completing his studies, Pissarro returned to St. Thomas and began helping his father in the store. However, this was not at all what the young man dreamed of. His interest lay far beyond the counter. Painting was most important to him, but his father did not support his son’s interest and was against him leaving the family business. The family’s complete misunderstanding and unwillingness to cooperate led to the completely desperate young man fleeing to Venezuela (1853). This act nevertheless influenced the adamant parent, and he allowed his son to go to Paris to study painting.
In Paris, Pissarro entered the Suisse studio, where he studied for six years (from 1855 to 1861). At the World Exhibition of Painting in 1855, the future artist discovered J. O. D. Ingres, G. Courbet, but the works of C. Corot made the greatest impression on him. On the advice of the latter, while continuing to visit Suisse’s studio, the young painter entered the School of Fine Arts under A. Melby. At this time, he met C. Monet, with whom he painted landscapes of the outskirts of Paris.
In 1859, Pissarro exhibited his paintings for the first time at the Salon. His early works were written under the influence of C. Corot and G. Courbet, but gradually Pissarro came to develop his own style. The beginning painter spends a lot of time working in the plein air. He, like other impressionists, is interested in the life of nature in motion. Pissarro pays great attention to color, which can convey not only the form, but also the material essence of an object. To reveal the unique charm and beauty of nature, he uses light strokes of pure colors, which, interacting with each other, create a vibrating tonal range. Applied in crosswise, parallel and diagonal lines, they give the entire image an amazing sense of depth and rhythmic sound (“Seine at Marly”, 1871).
Painting does not bring Pissarro much money, and he barely makes ends meet. In moments of despair, the artist makes attempts to break with art forever, but soon returns to creativity.
During the Franco-Prussian War, Pissarro lived in London. Together with C. Monet, he painted London landscapes from life. The artist's house in Louveciennes was plundered by the Prussian occupiers at this time. Most of the paintings that remained in the house were destroyed. The soldiers spread canvases in the yard under their feet during the rain.
Returning to Paris, Pissarro continues to experience financial difficulties. The Republic that replaced
empire, changed almost nothing in France. The bourgeoisie, impoverished after the events associated with the Commune, cannot buy paintings. At this time, Pissarro took the young artist P. Cezanne under his patronage. The two of them work in Pontoise, where Pissarro creates canvases depicting the surroundings of Pontoise, where the artist lived until 1884 (“Oise in Pontoise”, 1873); quiet villages, roads stretching into the distance (“Road from Gisors to Pontoise under the snow,” 1873; “Red Roofs,” 1877; “Landscape in Pontoise,” 1877).
Pissarro took an active part in all eight exhibitions of the Impressionists, organized from 1874 to 1886. Possessing teaching talent, the painter could find mutual language with almost all aspiring artists, helping them with advice. Contemporaries said of him that “he can even teach you to draw stones.” The master's talent was so great that he could distinguish even the finest shades of colors where others saw only gray, brownish and green.
A special place in Pissarro’s work is occupied by canvases dedicated to the city, shown as a living organism, constantly changing depending on the light and time of year. The artist had an amazing ability to see a lot and catch what others did not notice. For example, looking out of the same window, he painted 30 works depicting Montmartre (“Boulevard Montmartre in Paris”, 1897). The master passionately loved Paris, so he dedicated most of his paintings to it. The artist managed in his works to convey the unique magic that made Paris one of the greatest cities in the world. For his work, the painter rented rooms on the Rue Saint-Lazare, the Grands Boulevards, etc. He transferred everything he saw to his canvases (“Italian Boulevard in the morning, illuminated by the sun,” 1897; “Place of the French Theater in Paris, spring,” 1898; “ Opera Passage in Paris").
Among his cityscapes are works that depict other cities. So, in the 1890s. the master lived for a long time either in Dieppe or Rouen. In his paintings dedicated to various corners of France, he revealed the beauty of ancient squares, the poetry of alleys and ancient buildings, from which the spirit of long-gone eras emanates (“Great Bridge in Rouen,” 1896; “Boieldieu Bridge in Rouen at sunset,” 1896; “ View of Rouen", 1898; "The Church of Saint-Jacques in Dieppe", 1901).
Although Pissarro's landscapes are not distinguished by their bright colors, their pictorial texture is unusually rich in various shades: for example, the gray tone of a cobblestone street is formed from strokes of pure pink, blue, blue, golden ocher, English red, etc. As a result, the gray seems pearlescent, shimmers and glows, making the paintings look like precious stones.
Pissarro created not only landscapes. His work also includes genre paintings, which embodied his interest in man.
Among the most significant are “Coffee with Milk” (1881), “Girl with a Branch” (1881), “Woman with a Child at a Well” (1882), “Market: Meat Trader” (1883). While working on these works, the painter sought to streamline his brush strokes and introduce elements of monumentality into the compositions.
In the mid-1880s, already a mature artist, Pissarro, under the influence of Seurat and Signac, became interested in divisionism and began painting with small colored dots. Such a work of his as “Lacroix Island, Rouen” was written in this manner. Fog" (1888). However, the hobby did not last long, and soon (1890) the master returned to his previous style.
In addition to painting, Pissarro worked in watercolors, created etchings, lithographs and drawings.
The artist died in Paris in 1903.
Impressionism constituted an entire era in French art of the second half of the 19th century V. The hero of the impressionist paintings was light, and the task of the artists was to open people's eyes to the beauty of the world around them. Light and color could best be conveyed with quick, small, voluminous strokes. The impressionistic vision was prepared by the entire evolution of artistic consciousness, when movement began to be understood not only as movement in space, but as the general variability of the surrounding reality.
Impressionism - (French impressionnisme, from impression - impression), a movement in the art of the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries. It developed in French painting in the late 1860s - early 70s. The name “impressionism” arose after the exhibition of 1874, at which C. Monet’s painting “Impression. Rising Sun" At the time of the maturity of impressionism (70s - first half of the 80s), it was represented by a group of artists (Monet, O. Renoir, E. Degas, C. Pissarro, A. Sisley, B. Morisot, etc.), who united for struggle for the renewal of art and overcoming official salon academism and organized 8 exhibitions for this purpose in 1874-86. One of the creators of impressionism was E. Manet, who was not part of this group, but back in the 60s and early 70s. who presented genre works in which he rethought the compositional and painting techniques of the masters of the 16th-18th centuries. in relation to modern life, as well as scenes of the Civil War of 1861-65 in the USA, the execution of the Paris Communards, giving them an acute political orientation.
The impressionists depicted the world in perpetual motion, transition from one state to another. They began to paint a series of paintings, wanting to show how the same motif changes depending on the time of day, lighting, weather conditions, etc. (cycles “Boulevard Montmartre” by C. Pissarro, 1897; “Rouen Cathedral”, 1893- 95, and "Parliament of London", 1903-04, C. Monet). Artists found ways to reflect the movement of clouds in paintings (A. Sisley. “Loing in Saint-Mamme”, 1882), the play of glare sunlight(O. Renoir. “Swing”, 1876), gusts of wind (C. Monet. “Terrace at Sainte-Adresse”, 1866), streams of rain (G. Caillebotte. “Hierarch. The Effect of Rain”, 1875), falling snow ( C. Pissarro. “Opera passage. The effect of snow”, 1898), rapid running of horses (E. Manet. “Horses in Longchamp”, 1865).
Now that heated debates about the meaning and role of impressionism are a thing of the past, hardly anyone would dare to dispute that the impressionist movement was a further step in the development of European realistic painting. “Impressionism is, first of all, the art of observing reality that has reached unprecedented sophistication.”
Striving for maximum spontaneity and accuracy in conveying the surrounding world, they began to paint mainly in the open air and raised the importance of sketches from nature, which almost replaced the traditional type of painting, carefully and slowly created in the studio.
The Impressionists showed the beauty of the real world, in which every moment is unique. Consistently clarifying their palette, the Impressionists freed painting from earthy and brown varnishes and paints. Conventional, “museum” blackness in their canvases gives way to an infinitely diverse play of reflexes and colored shadows. They have expanded the possibilities immeasurably visual arts, revealing not only the world of sun, light and air, but also the beauty of London fogs, the restless atmosphere of big city life, the scattering of its night lights and the rhythm of incessant movement.
Due to the very method of working in the open air, the landscape, including the city landscape they discovered, occupied a very important place in the art of the Impressionists.
However, one should not assume that the painting of the Impressionists was characterized only by a “landscape” perception of reality, for which critics often reproached them. The thematic and plot range of their work was quite wide. Interest in man, and in particular in modern life in France, in a broad sense, was inherent in a number of representatives of this art direction. His life-affirming, fundamentally democratic pathos clearly opposed the bourgeois world order. In this one cannot help but see the continuity of impressionism in relation to the main line of development of French realistic art of the 19th century.
By depicting landscapes and forms using dots of color, the Impressionists questioned the solidity and materiality of the things around them. But the artist cannot be content with one impression; he needs a drawing that organizes the whole picture. Since the mid-1880s, a new generation of impressionist artists associated with this art direction has been conducting more and more experiments in their painting, as a result of which the number of directions (varieties) of impressionism is growing, art groups and venues for exhibitions of their work.
Artists of the new movement did not mix different colors on the palette, but painted in pure colors. By placing a stroke of one paint next to another, they often left the surface of the paintings rough. It was noticed that many colors become brighter when next to each other. This technique is called the contrast effect of complementary colors.
Impressionist artists were sensitive to the slightest changes in the weather, as they worked on location and wanted to create an image of a landscape where the motif, colors, and lighting would merge into a single poetic image city view or countryside. The impressionists gave great importance color and light due to pattern and volume. Clear contours of objects disappeared, contrasts and light and shade were forgotten. They sought to make the picture similar to an open window through which one can see real world. This a new style influenced many artists of that time.
It should be noted that, like any movement in art, impressionism has its advantages and disadvantages.
Disadvantages of Impressionism:
French impressionism did not raise philosophical problems and did not even try to penetrate under the colored surface of everyday life. Instead, impressionism focuses on superficiality, the fluidity of a moment, mood, lighting, or angle of view.
Like the art of the Renaissance (Renaissance), impressionism is built on the characteristics and skills of perceiving perspective. At the same time, the Renaissance vision explodes with the proven subjectivity and relativity of human perception, which makes color and form autonomous components of the image. For impressionism, what is depicted in the picture is not so important, but how it is depicted is important.
Their paintings presented only the positive aspects of life, did not disturb social problems, and avoided such problems as hunger, disease, and death. This later led to a split among the Impressionists themselves.
Advantages of impressionism:
The advantages of impressionism as a movement include democracy. By inertia, art in the 19th century was considered a monopoly of aristocrats, upper strata population. They were the main customers for paintings and monuments, and they were the main buyers of paintings and sculptures. Plots with the hard work of peasants, the tragic pages of modern times, the shameful aspects of wars, poverty, and social unrest were condemned, disapproved, and not bought. Criticism of the blasphemous morality of society in the paintings of Theodore Gericault and Francois Millet found response only among supporters of the artists and a few experts.
The Impressionists took quite a compromise, intermediate position on this issue. Biblical, literary, mythological, and historical subjects inherent in official academicism were discarded. On the other hand, they fervently desired recognition, respect, even awards. Indicative is the activity of Edouard Manet, who for years sought recognition and awards from the official Salon and its administration.
Instead, a vision of everyday life and modernity emerged. Artists often painted people in motion, during fun or relaxation, and imagined the view specific place in certain lighting, nature was also a motif in their work. Subjects of flirting, dancing, being in a cafe and theater, boating, on beaches and in gardens were taken. Judging by the paintings of the Impressionists, life is a series of small holidays, parties, pleasant times outside the city or in a friendly environment (a number of paintings by Renoir, Manet and Claude Monet). The Impressionists were among the first to paint in the air, without finishing their work in the studio.
impressionism manet painting
Impressionism is an artistic movement that emerged in the 70s. XIX century in French painting, and then manifested itself in music, literature, theater.
Impressionism in painting began to take shape long before the famous exhibition of 1874. Edouard Manet is traditionally considered the founder of the Impressionists. He was very inspired by the classical works of Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Velazquez. Manet expressed his vision of the images on his canvases, adding “vibrating” strokes that created the effect of incompleteness. In 1863, Manet created Olympia, which caused a great scandal in cultural society.
At first glance, the picture was made in line with traditional canons, but at the same time it already carried innovative trends. About 87 reviews were written about Olympia in various Parisian publications. She was hit with a lot of negative criticism - the artist was accused of vulgarity. And only a few articles could be called favorable.
Manet used a single-layer paint technique in his work, which created a stained effect. Subsequently, this technique of applying paint was adopted by impressionist artists as the basis for images on paintings.
A distinctive feature of impressionism was the subtlest recording of fleeting impressions, in a special manner of reproducing the light environment with the help of a complex mosaic of pure colors and cursory decorative strokes.
It is curious that at the beginning of their search, the artists used a cyanometer - an instrument for determining the blueness of the sky. Black color was excluded from the palette, it was replaced with other color shades, which made it possible not to spoil the sunny mood of the paintings.
The Impressionists were guided by the latest scientific discoveries of their time. The color theory of Chevreul and Helmholtz boils down to the following: the sun's ray is split into its component colors, and, accordingly, two paints placed on the canvas enhance the pictorial effect, and when mixed the paints lose intensity.
The aesthetics of impressionism developed, in part, as an attempt to decisively free ourselves from the conventions of classicism in art, as well as from the persistent symbolism and profundity of late romantic painting, which invited everyone to see encrypted plans that needed careful interpretation. Impressionism asserted not just the beauty of everyday reality, but the capture of a colorful atmosphere, without detailing or interpreting, depicting the world as an ever-changing optical phenomenon.
Impressionist artists developed a complete plein air system. The predecessors of this stylistic feature there were landscape painters who came from the Barbizon school, the main representatives of which were Camille Corot and John Constable.
Working in an open space provided more opportunity to capture the slightest color changes at different times of the day.
Claude Monet created several series of paintings on the same subject, for example, “Rouen Cathedral” (a series of 50 paintings), “Haystacks” (a series of 15 paintings), “Pond with Water Lilies”, etc. The main indicator of these series there was a change in light and color in the image of the same object painted at different times of the day.
Another achievement of impressionism is the development of an original painting system, where complex tones are decomposed into pure colors conveyed by individual strokes. The artists did not mix colors on the palette, but preferred to apply strokes directly to the canvas. This technique gave the paintings a special trepidation, variability and relief. The artists' works were filled with color and light.
The exhibition on April 15, 1874 in Paris was the result of the period of formation and presentation of a new movement to the general public. The exhibition took place in the studio of photographer Felix Nadar on the Boulevard des Capucines.
The name “Impressionism” arose after an exhibition at which Monet’s painting “Impression” was exhibited. Sunrise". The critic L. Leroy, in his review in the publication Charivari, gave a humorous description of the exhibition of 1874, citing the example of Monet’s work. Another critic, Maurice Denis, reproached the impressionists for their lack of individuality, feeling, and poetry.
At the first exhibition, about 30 artists showed their works. This was the largest number in comparison with subsequent exhibitions until 1886.
One cannot help but mention the positive feedback from Russian society. Russian artists and democratic critics, who were always keenly interested in the artistic life of France - I. V. Kramskoy, I. E. Repin and V. V. Stasov - highly appreciated the achievements of the Impressionists from the very first exhibition.
The new stage in the history of art, which began with the exhibition of 1874, was not a sudden explosion of revolutionary tendencies - it was the culmination of a slow and gradual development.
While all the great masters of the past contributed to the development of the principles of impressionism, the immediate roots of the movement can most easily be discovered in the twenty years preceding the historical exhibition.
In parallel with the exhibitions at the Salon, Impressionist exhibitions were gaining momentum. Their works demonstrated new trends in painting. This was a reproach to salon culture and exhibition traditions. Subsequently, impressionist artists managed to attract admirers of new trends in art to their side.
Theoretical knowledge and formulations of impressionism began to develop quite late. Artists preferred more practice and their own experiments with light and color. In impressionism, primarily pictorial, the legacy of realism can be traced; it clearly expresses the anti-academic, anti-salon orientation and installation of depicting the surrounding reality of that time. Some researchers note that impressionism has become a special branch of realism.
Undoubtedly, in impressionistic art, as in every artistic movement that arises during a period of turning point and crisis of old traditions, various and even contradictory trends were intertwined, despite all its external integrity.
The fundamental features were the themes of the artists’ works, the means artistic expression. Irina Vladimirova’s book about the impressionists includes several chapters: “Landscape, nature, impressions”, “City, places of meetings and partings”, “Hobbies as a way of life”, “People and characters”, “Portraits and self-portraits”, “Still life”. It also describes the creation history and location of each work.
During the heyday of impressionism, artists found a harmonious balance between objective reality and its perception. The artists tried to capture every ray of light, the movement of the breeze, and the changeability of nature. To preserve the freshness of their paintings, the Impressionists created an original painting system, which later turned out to be very important for the further development of art. Despite the general trends in painting, each artist found his own creative path and main genres in painting.
Classical impressionism is represented by such artists as Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Edgar Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro, Jean Frédéric Bazille, Berthe Morisot, Edgar Degas.
Let's consider the contribution of some artists to the development of impressionism.
Edouard Manet (1832-1883)
Manet received his first painting lessons from T. Couture, thanks to which the future artist acquired a lot of necessary professional skills. Due to the lack of proper attention from the teacher to his students, Manet leaves the master’s atelier and engages in self-education. He attends exhibitions in museums; his creative formation was greatly influenced by the old masters, especially Spanish ones.
In the 1860s, Manet wrote two works in which the basic principles of his artistic style are visible. Lola of Valencia (1862) and The Flutist (1866) show Manet as an artist who reveals the character of his subject through the rendering of color.
His ideas on brushstrokes and his approach to color were adopted by other Impressionist artists. In the 1870s, Manet became closer to his followers and worked plein air without black on the palette. The arrival to impressionism was the result of the creative evolution of Manet himself. Manet's most impressionistic paintings are “In a Boat” (1874) and “Claude Monet in a Boat” (1874).
Manet also painted many portraits of various society ladies, actresses, models, beautiful women. Each portrait conveyed the uniqueness and individuality of the model.
Shortly before his death, Manet painted one of his masterpieces - “Bar Folies-Bergère” (1881-1882). This painting combines several genres: portrait, still life, everyday scene.
N. N. Kalitina writes: “The magic of Manet’s art is such that the girl confronts her surroundings, thanks to which her mood is so clearly revealed, and at the same time is a part, for the entire background, vaguely discernible, vague, worrying, is also resolved in blue-black , bluish-white, yellow tones.”
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Claude Monet was the undoubted leader and founder of classical impressionism. The main genre of his painting was landscape.
In his youth, Monet was fond of caricature and caricature. The first models for his works were his teachers and comrades. He used cartoons in newspapers and magazines as a model. He copied the drawings in Gaulois by E. Carge, a poet and caricaturist, a friend of Gustave Coubret.
At college, Monet's painting was taught by Jacques-François Hauchard. But it is fair to note the influence on Monet of Boudin, who supported the artist, gave him advice, and motivated him to continue his work.
In November 1862, Monet continued his studies in Paris with Gleyre. Thanks to this, Monet met Basil, Renoir, and Sisley in his studio. Young artists prepared to enter the School of Fine Arts, respecting their teacher, who charged little for his lessons and gave advice in a gentle manner.
Monet created his paintings not as a story, not as an illustration of an idea or theme. His painting, like life, had no clear goals. He saw the world without focusing on details, on some principles, he went towards a “landscape vision” (the term of the art historian A. A. Fedorov-Davydov). Monet strove for plotlessness and a fusion of genres on canvas. The means of implementing his innovations were sketches, which were supposed to become finished paintings. All sketches were drawn from life.
He painted meadows, hills, flowers, rocks, gardens, village streets, the sea, beaches and much more; he turned to depicting nature at different times of the day. He often wrote the same place at different times, thereby creating entire cycles from his works. The principle of his work was not the depiction of objects in the picture, but the accurate transmission of light.
Let us give a few examples of the artist’s works - “Field of Poppies at Argenteuil” (1873), “Splash Pool” (1869), “Pond with Water Lilies” (1899), “Wheat Stacks” (1891).
Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
Renoir refers to outstanding masters secular portrait; in addition, he worked in the genres of landscape, everyday scenes, and still life.
The peculiarity of his work is his interest in the personality of a person, the revelation of his character and soul. In his canvases, Renoir tries to emphasize the feeling of the fullness of existence. The artist is attracted to entertainment and celebrations; he paints balls, walks with their movement and variety of characters, and dances.
The most famous works artist - “Portrait of the actress Jeanne Samary”, “Umbrellas”, “Bathing in the Seine”, etc.
It is interesting that Renoir was distinguished by his musicality and as a child sang in a church choir under the direction of the outstanding composer and teacher Charles Gounod in Paris at the Saint-Eustache Cathedral. C. Gounod strongly recommended that the boy study music. But at the same time, Renoir discovered his artistic talent - from the age of 13 he had already learned to paint porcelain dishes.
Music lessons influenced the development of the artist’s personality. A number of his works are related to musical themes. They reflect the playing of piano, guitar, and mandolin. These are the paintings “Guitar Lesson”, “Young Spanish Woman with a Guitar”, “Young Lady at the Piano”, “Woman Playing the Guitar”, “Piano Lesson”, etc.
Jean Frédéric Bazille (1841-1870)
According to his artist friends, Basil was the most promising and outstanding impressionist.
His works are distinguished by their bright colors and spirituality of images. Pierre Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Claude Monet had a great influence on his creative path. Jean Frederic's apartment was a kind of studio and housing for aspiring painters.
Basil primarily painted en plein air. The main idea of his work was the image of man against the backdrop of nature. His first heroes in the paintings were his artist friends; many impressionists were very fond of drawing each other in their works.
Frédéric Bazille, in his creative work, outlined the movement of realistic impressionism. His most famous painting, Family Reunion (1867), is autobiographical. The artist depicts his family members on it. This work was presented at the Salon and received approval from the public.
In 1870, the artist died in the Prussian-French War. After the artist’s death, his artist friends organized a third exhibition of impressionists, where his paintings were also exhibited.
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
Camille Pissarro is one of the largest representatives of landscape artists after C. Monet. His works were constantly exhibited in Impressionist exhibitions. In his works, Pissarro preferred to depict plowed fields, peasant life and labor. His paintings were distinguished by their structural forms and clarity of composition.
Later, the artist began to paint paintings on urban themes. N. N. Kalitina notes in her book: “He looks at the city streets from the windows of the upper floors or from the balconies, without introducing them into the composition.”
Under the influence of Georges-Pierre Seurat, the artist took up pointillism. This technique involves applying each stroke separately, as if putting dots. But creative prospects in this area were not realized, and Pissarro returned to impressionism.
Pissarro's most famous paintings were “Boulevard Montmartre. Afternoon, sunny", "Opera Passage in Paris", "Square French theater in Paris”, “Garden in Pontoise”, “Harvest”, “Haymaking”, etc.
Alfred Sisley (1839-1899)
Alfred Sisley's main genre of painting was landscape. In his early works The influence of K. Corot is mainly visible. Gradually, in the process of working together with C. Monet, J. F. Bazille, P. O. Renoir, light colors begin to appear in his works.
The artist is attracted by the play of light, the change in the state of the atmosphere. Sisley turned to the same landscape several times, capturing it at different times of the day. The artist gave priority in his works to images of water and sky, which changed every second. The artist managed to achieve perfection with the help of color; each shade in his works carries a unique symbolism.
His most famous works: “Rural Alley” (1864), “Frost in Louveciennes” (1873), “View of Montmartre from the Flower Island” (1869), “Early Snow in Louveciennes” (1872), “Bridge at Argenteuil” (1872 ).
Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
Edgar Degas is an artist who began his creative journey by studying at the School of Fine Arts. He was inspired by the artists of the Italian Renaissance, which influenced his work as a whole. At the beginning Degas wrote historical paintings, for example, “Spartan girls challenge Spartan boys to a competition. (1860). The main genre of his painting is portrait. In his works the artist relies on classical traditions. He creates works marked by a keen sense of his time.
Unlike his colleagues, Degas does not share the joyful, open view of life and things inherent in impressionism. The artist is closer to the critical tradition of art: compassion for the fate of the common man, the ability to see the souls of people, their inner world, inconsistency, tragedy.
For Degas, objects and interior surrounding a person play a big role in creating a portrait. Here are a few works as examples: “Désirée Dio with Orchestra” (1868-1869), “ Female portrait"(1868), "The Morbilli Couple" (1867), etc.
The principle of portraiture in Degas’s works can be traced throughout his entire creative career. In the 1870s, the artist depicted the society of France, in particular Paris, in its full glory in his works. The artist's interests are urban life in motion. “Movement was for him one of the most important manifestations of life, and the ability of art to convey it was the most important achievement modern painting"- writes N.N. Kalitina.
During this period of time, such films as “The Star” (1878), “Miss Lola in Fernando’s Circus”, “Horsing at Epsom”, etc. were created.
A new round of Degas’s creativity was his interest in ballet. It shows the behind-the-scenes life of ballerinas, talking about their hard work and rigorous training. But, despite this, the artist manages to find airiness and lightness in the rendering of their images.
In the ballet series of paintings by Degas, achievements in the field of transmitting artificial light from the stage are visible; they speak of the artist’s coloristic talent. The most famous paintings are “Blue Dancers” (1897), “Dance Class” (1874), “Dancer with a Bouquet” (1877), “Dancers in Pink” (1885) and others.
At the end of his life, due to deteriorating eyesight, Degas tried his hand at sculpture. His objects are the same ballerinas, women, horses. In sculpture, Degas tries to convey movement, and in order to appreciate the sculpture, you need to look at it from different angles.
European art of the late 19th century was enriched by the emergence of modernism. Its influence later spread to music and literature. It was called “impressionism” because it was based on the artist’s subtlest impressions, images and moods.
Origins and history
Several young artists formed a group in the second half of the 19th century. They had a common goal and the same interests. The main thing for this company was to work in nature, without workshop walls and various limiting factors. In their paintings they sought to convey all the sensuality, the impression of the play of light and shadow. Landscapes and portraits reflected the unity of the soul with the Universe, with the surrounding world. Their paintings are true poetry of colors.
In 1874, an exhibition of this group of artists was held. Landscape by Claude Monet “Impression. Sunrise” caught the eye of the critic, who in his review for the first time called these creators impressionists (from the French impression - “impression”).
The prerequisites for the birth of the style of impressionism, the paintings of whose representatives would soon become incredible success, steel works of the Renaissance. The work of the Spaniards Velazquez, El Greco, the English Turner, Constable unconditionally influenced the French, who were the founders of impressionism.
Prominent representatives of the style in France were Pissarro, Manet, Degas, Sisley, Cézanne, Monet, Renoir and others.
Philosophy of impressionism in painting
The artists who painted in this style did not set themselves the task of attracting public attention to troubles. In their works one cannot find subjects on the topic of the day; one cannot receive a moral lesson or notice human contradictions.
Paintings in the impressionist style are aimed at conveying a momentary mood, developing color schemes of a mysterious nature. There is only room for a positive beginning in the works; gloominess avoided the impressionists.
In fact, the impressionists did not bother themselves with thinking through the plot and details. The most important factor was not what to draw, but how to depict and convey your mood.
Painting technique
The difference between the academic style of drawing and the technique of the impressionists is colossal. They simply abandoned many methods, and changed some beyond recognition. Here are the innovations they introduced:
- We abandoned the circuit. It was replaced with strokes - small and contrasting.
- We stopped using palettes for colors that complement each other and do not require merging to achieve a certain effect. For example, yellow is purple.
- Stopped painting in black.
- They completely abandoned work in workshops. They painted exclusively on location, to make it easier to capture a moment, an image, a feeling.
- Only paints with good covering power were used.
- We didn’t wait for the new layer to dry. Fresh strokes were applied immediately.
- They created cycles of works to follow changes in light and shadow. For example, “Haystacks” by Claude Monet.
Of course, not all artists followed the exact features of the Impressionist style. Edouard Manet's paintings, for example, never participated in joint exhibitions, and he positioned himself as a separate artist. Edgar Degas worked only in workshops, but this did not harm the quality of his works.
Representatives of French Impressionism
The first exhibition of Impressionist works dates back to 1874. 12 years later, their last exhibition took place. The first work in this style can be called “Lunch on the Grass” by E. Manet. This painting was presented in the "Salon of the Rejected". It was met with hostility because it was very different from the academic canons. That is why Manet becomes a figure around whom a circle of followers of this stylistic movement gathers.
Unfortunately, contemporaries did not appreciate such a style as impressionism. Paintings and artists existed in disagreement with official art.
Gradually, Claude Monet came to the fore in the group of painters, who would later become their leader and the main ideologist of impressionism.
Claude Monet (1840—1926)
The work of this artist can be described as a hymn to impressionism. It was he who was the first to abandon the use of black in his paintings, citing the fact that even shadows and night have different tones.
The world in Monet’s paintings is unclear outlines, spacious strokes, looking at which you can feel the whole spectrum of the play of colors of day and night, seasons, and the harmony of the sublunary world. Just a moment that was snatched from the flow of life, in Monet’s understanding, is impressionism. His paintings seem to have no materiality; they are all saturated with rays of light and air currents.
Claude Monet created amazing works: “Gare Saint-Lazare”, “Rouen Cathedral”, the “Charing Cross Bridge” series and many others.
Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
Renoir's creations create the impression of extraordinary lightness, airiness, and ethereality. The plot was born as if by chance, but it is known that the artist carefully thought through all stages of his work and worked from morning to night.
A distinctive feature of O. Renoir's work is the use of glaze, which is only possible when painting. Impressionism in the artist's works is manifested in every stroke. He perceives a person as a particle of nature itself, which is why there are so many paintings with nudes.
Renoir's favorite pastime was depicting a woman in all her attractive and attractive beauty. Portraits occupy a special place in the artist’s creative life. “Umbrellas”, “Girl with a Fan”, “Breakfast of the Rowers” are only a small part of the amazing collection of paintings by Auguste Renoir.
Georges Seurat (1859-1891)
Seurat associated the process of creating paintings with scientific basis color theory. The light-air environment was drawn based on the dependence of the main and additional tones.
Despite the fact that J. Seurat is a representative of the final stage of impressionism, and his technique is in many ways different from the founders, he, in the same way, creates with the help of strokes an illusory representation of an object form, which can be viewed and seen only from a distance.
The paintings “Sunday Afternoon”, “Cancan”, “Models” can be called masterpieces of creativity.
Representatives of Russian impressionism
Russian impressionism arose almost spontaneously, mixing many phenomena and methods. However, the basis, like the French, was a natural vision of the process.
In Russian impressionism, although the features of the French were preserved, the peculiarities of national nature and state of mind made significant changes. For example, visions of snow or northern landscapes were expressed using unusual techniques.
In Russia, few artists worked in the impressionist style; their paintings still attract attention to this day.
The impressionistic period can be distinguished in the work of Valentin Serov. His "Girl with Peaches" - the clearest example and the standard of this style in Russia.
The paintings captivate with their freshness and harmony of pure colors. The main topic The work of this artist is the image of a person in nature. “Northern Idyll”, “In a Boat”, “Fedor Chaliapin” are bright milestones in K. Korovin’s work.
Impressionism in modern times
Currently, this direction in art has received new life. Several artists paint their paintings in this style. Modern impressionism exists in Russia (Andre Cohn), in France (Laurent Parselier), in America (Diana Leonard).
Andre Cohn is the most prominent representative of the new impressionism. His oil paintings are striking in their simplicity. The artist sees beauty in everyday things. The creator interprets many objects through the prism of movement.
The whole world knows Laurent Parselier's watercolor works. His series of works “Strange World” were released in the form of postcards. Magnificent, vibrant and sensual, they will take your breath away.
As in the 19th century, at the moment, artists remain plein air painting. Thanks to her, impressionism will live forever. artists continue to be inspired, impressed and encouraged.
Impressionism ( fr. impressionnisme, from impression - impression) - a movement in art of the last third of the 19th- beginning of the 20th centuries, which originated in France and then spread throughout the world, whose representatives sought to develop methods and techniques that made it possible to most naturally and vividly capture the real world in its mobility and variability, to convey their fleeting impressions.
Usually the term “impressionism” refers to a direction in painting (but this is, first of all, a group of methods), although its ideas also found their embodiment in literature and music, where impressionism also appeared in a certain set of methods and techniques for creating literary and musical works, in which the authors sought to convey life in a sensual, direct form, as a reflection of their impressions.
Impression. Sunrise , Claude Monet, 1872
The term “impressionism” arose from the light hand of the critic of the magazine “Le Charivari” Louis Leroy, who entitled his feuilleton about the Salon of Rejects “Exhibition of the Impressionists”, taking as a basis the title of the painting “Impression. Rising Sun" by Claude Monet. Initially, this term was somewhat disparaging and indicated a corresponding attitude towards artists who painted in this manner.
Specifics of the philosophy of impressionism
Women in the garden , Claude Monet, 1866
French impressionism did not raise philosophical problems and did not even try to penetrate beneath the colored surface of everyday life. Instead, impressionism focuses on superficiality, the fluidity of a moment, mood, lighting, or angle of view.
Like the art of the Renaissance, impressionism is built on the characteristics and skills of perception of perspective. At the same time, the Renaissance vision explodes with the proven subjectivity and relativity of human perception, which makes color and form autonomous components of the image. For impressionism, what is depicted in the picture is not so important, but how it is depicted is important.
Their paintings presented only the positive aspects of life, without touching on social problems, including hunger, disease, and death. This later led to a split among the Impressionists themselves.
Advantages of Impressionism
The advantages of impressionism as a movement include democracy. By inertia, art even in the 19th century was considered a monopoly of aristocrats and the upper strata of the population. They were the main customers for paintings and monuments; they were the main buyers of paintings and sculptures. Plots with the hard work of peasants, the tragic pages of modern times, the shameful aspects of wars, poverty, and social unrest were condemned, disapproved, and not bought. Criticism of the blasphemous morality of society in the paintings of Theodore Gericault and Francois Millet found response only among supporters of the artists and a few experts.
The Impressionists took quite a compromise, intermediate position on this issue. Biblical, literary, mythological, and historical subjects inherent in official academicism were discarded. On the other hand, they fervently desired recognition, respect, even awards. Indicative is the activity of Edouard Manet, who for years sought recognition and awards from the official Salon and its administration.
Instead, a vision of everyday life and modernity emerged. Artists often painted people in motion, during fun or relaxation, presented the appearance of a certain place under certain lighting, and nature was also the motive of their works. Subjects of flirting, dancing, being in a cafe and theater, boating, on beaches and in gardens were taken.
Blue dancers , Edgar Degas, 1897
Judging by the paintings of the Impressionists, life is a series of small holidays, parties, pleasant pastimes outside the city or in a friendly environment (a number of paintings by Renoir, Manet and Claude Monet). The Impressionists were among the first to paint in the air, without finishing their work in the studio.
Ball at the Moulin de la Galette , Renoir, 1876
In the tavern of Father Lathuile, Edouard Manet, 1879
Technique
The new movement differed from academic painting both technically and ideologically. First of all, the Impressionists abandoned the contour, replacing it with small separate and contrasting strokes, which they applied in accordance with the color theories of Chevreul, Helmholtz and Rud.
The sun's ray is split into components: violet, blue, cyan, green, yellow, orange, red, but since blue is a type of blue, their number is reduced to six. Two colors placed next to each other enhance each other and, conversely, when mixed they lose intensity. In addition, all colors are divided into primary, or basic, and dual, or derivative, with each dual color being complementary to the first:
- Blue - Orange
- Red Green
- Yellow - Purple
Thus, it became possible not to mix paints on the palette and get desired color by correctly applying them to the canvas. This later became the reason for refusing black.
Then the Impressionists stopped concentrating all their work on canvases in the studios; now they preferred the plein air, where it was more convenient to capture a fleeting impression of what they saw, which became possible thanks to the invention of steel paint tubes, which, unlike leather bags, could be closed so that the paint did not dry out.
Also, artists used opaque paints, which do not transmit light well and are unsuitable for mixing because they quickly turn gray; this allowed them to create paintings without “ internal", A " external» light reflected from a surface.
Technical differences contributed to the achievement of other goals, first of all, the impressionists tried to capture a fleeting impression, the smallest changes in each object depending on lighting and time of day; the highest embodiment was the cycles of paintings by Monet “Haystacks”, “Rouen Cathedral” and “Parliament of London”.
Haystacks, Monet
In general, there were many masters working in the Impressionist style, but the foundation of the movement was Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro, Frédéric Bazille and Berthe Morisot. However, Manet always called himself an “independent artist” and never participated in exhibitions, and although Degas participated, he never painted his works en plein air.
