Post Impressionism.

Post impressionism is a movement in 1886 that shows the changes in Impressionism. Some of the key artists include:

Paul Gauguin  1848-1903

Paul Cezanne  1839-1906

Vincent Van Gogh  1853-1890

Georges Seurat 1859-1891

                                                         Paul Cezanne

A French Painter, Cezanne is known to have formed the bridge between 19th century and early 20th century art. He is known as the father of cubism because of his exploration with perspective. He is known also for his exploratory brushstrokes and use of colour.

Paul Cézanne  The Gardener Vallier c.1906

Paul Cézanne  Still Life with Water Jug c.1892–3

Cezanne is very well known for his still life paintings, he would paint the same objects over and over again in order to truly capture what he was seeing in different ways. He belived that traditional perspective did not accurately reflect the way we would see things in the real world, with the eye having multiple view points.

George Seurat

George Seurat was another post impressionist painter. He is known for his technique chromoluminarism and pointillism.

 Georges Seurat Le Bec du Hoc, Grandcamp 1885

This painting is using a style known as Divisionism, small brush strokes. I can see also he used complementary colours.

Georges Seurat 'Bathing at Asnières'

This painting was the first of Seurats large scale paintings. It is an industrial suburb just outside Paris. It is of Young workmen relaxing in their leisure time by the river. This painting was done before he used his pointillism style , using simple shapes they look very flat, almost like cut outs.

Paul Gauguin

Paul Gauguin was a French artist known for his experimental use of colour and symbolic style. What i want to look at is his works In 1891 when he decided to escape Europe and everything he saw at artificial and sail for Tahiti.

He spend the first three months in Papeete, Unfortunately it was not what he expected as it was already much influenced by European culture and it is said he must have been disappointed as he had his own idea of a more primitive culture. He set up a studio not far from Papeete and created painting depicting Tahitian Life.

Fatata te Miti - 1892 - oil painting

Paul Gauguin - la orana maria

Paul Gauguin, Spirit of the Dead Watching, 1892, oil 

This painting is apparently of his fourteen year old girlfriend, lying belly down on a bed. Her face is supposed to be fearful...but i am unsure if i agree with that... and if it is of terror then what is she scared of? is she seeing the spirits of the dead? 

 Behind the bed is a profile of a woman who seems to be watching over her that i believe to be a statue or wood carving... but i don't know of what.

His use of colour he said was emotional. He described his shades of purple on this painting as "a background of terror". Using colour to stir feeling in the viewer was in many works with other post impressionist artists. 

The perspective in this painting seems so ... off. we are level with the eyes of the figure in the background but we are also looking down at the girl on the bed. The body of the girl is almost awkward and disproportionate. Her feet and hands are very big and her feet hand off the bed. 

 

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becoming-modern/avant-garde-france/post-impressionism/a/gauguin-spirit-of-the-dead-watching

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/seurat-clothes-on-the-grass-n04203

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/georges-seurat-bathers-at-asnieres