The Impressionist Revolution – From Monet to Matisse
Selections from the Dallas Museum of Art Special Exhibitions
Not an Apple
A few weeks ago a friend of mine who was trying to make a political statement online showed an apple with accompanying text saying “This is a watermelon. If you see an apple it’s because you are a right wing conspiracy theorist.” The inference being it should be obvious to everyone it is an apple, not a watermelon, and those who think it’s a watermelon are being deceived by the main stream media. I called her out on this post, not only because I disagreed with her politics, but because she herself began by believing a lie. She said it was an apple. It was not an apple, it was a photograph of an apple.
An Impression
Simple as it may be, this is a mistake many people make about art as well and this was the delusion from which the Impressionists set out to free themselves. No longer were they going to create something that was built on a lie. They were no longer going to try to convince their audience the painting before them was actually the person, place or thing. They would paint in such a way that everyone would know it was not the real thing but a creative representation made with brushstrokes of paint on a two-dimensional surface. It was an impression. It was the most radical idea in the history of painting up to that point and it turned the art world upside down as a result. For many decades they were not accepted, they were even hated, because they broke a sacred illusion that had lived in art for hundreds of years, the illusion of reality.
The Geniuses
Here are 10 examples of paintings by some of the great impressionists and those that came them; the post-impressionists, the pointillists, and others. Take a look at the whole painting then at the close up showing the actual paint strokes. If you have a large screen view it on that. They were geniuses of the first order and the magic is real.
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Pont Neuf, Claude Monet, 1871
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Pont Neuf, Claude Monet, 1871, close up
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The Seine at Chatou, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1874
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The Seine at Chatou, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1874, close up
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Winter, Berthe Morisot, 1881
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Winter, Berthe Morisot, 1881, close up
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The Path in the Garden, Gustave Caillebotte, 1886
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The Path in the Garden, Gustave Caillebotte, 1886, close up
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Complat-le-Châeau, Le Pre, Paul Signac, 1887
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Complat-le-Châeau, Le Pre, Paul Signac, 1887, close up
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River Bank in Springtime, Vincent van Gogh, 1887
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River Bank in Springtime, Vincent van Gogh, 1887, close up
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Yellow Roses in a Vase, Gustave Caillebotte, 1882
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Yellow Roses in a Vase, Gustave Caillebotte, 1882
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Sheaves of Wheat, Vincent van Gogh, 1890
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Sheaves of Wheat, Vincent van Gogh, 1890, close up
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I Raro te Oviri, Paul Gauguin, 1891
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I Raro te Oviri, Paul Gauguin, 1891, close up
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Bougival, Maurice de Vlaminck, 1905
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Bougival, Maurice de Vlaminck, 1905, close up
‘Wow, it looks just like a photograph!’ school of adoration
When you look at art in the future hopefully you will be less enamored with the ‘Wow, it looks just like a photograph!’ school of adoration. It isn’t the height of skill to be able to do that actually. Anyone can learn how, I know because I taught drawing for a decade and had students who couldn’t draw a stick figure render incredibly life-like drawings at the end because their skills improved. But the best of my students weren’t the ones who could do that. The best were the ones who had something interesting to say. They had a unique way of seeing and creating and their artwork reflected that. That, to me, is the sign of a true artist.
© 2024 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com