Lena Rivera
Post-Impressionism was a predominantly French art movement that emerged between 1886 and 1905 as a reaction against Impressionism and its focus on the naturalistic depiction of light and colour. Post-Impressionist paintings are characterised by a broad emphasis on abstract form and pattern, with artists adopting a more structured or geometric style, or an expressive, non-geometric approach. They often feature bright colours, thin visible brushstrokes, and real-life subjects, but also incorporate distorted forms and unnatural colours. Post-Impressionists such as Seurat and Pissarro experimented with Pointillism, a technique that involves using tiny dots of colour to form an image. Other notable Post-Impressionist painters include Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, each of whom developed their own highly personal artistic styles.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Colours | Vivid, bright, pure, brilliant, saturated, and sometimes unnatural or modified |
| Brushstrokes | Repetitive, exploratory, short, and broken |
| Composition | Inventive, interesting, and purposeful |
| Subjects | Real-life, non-trivial, and symbolic |
| Forms | Geometric, distorted, and sometimes abstract |
| Techniques | Pointillism, chromoluminarism, and impasto |
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What You'll Learn
Post-Impressionism as a reaction to Impressionism
Post-Impressionism emerged in France as a reaction to the limitations of Impressionism, extending the movement while also rejecting certain aspects of it. Artists such as Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Georges Seurat, who were initially part of the Impressionist movement, sought to develop a more ambitious form of expression.
Impressionism, as a style of art, focused on the naturalistic depiction of light and colour, with artists responding to their modern surroundings. The Impressionists aimed for an objective recording of nature, capturing the fleeting effects of light and colour. However, Post-Impressionists felt that this preoccupation with technique overshadowed the importance of subject matter, leading them to prioritise abstract qualities and symbolic content. They sought to infuse their art with a sense of permanence and coherence, moving away from the Impressionists' focus on capturing fleeting moments.
Post-Impressionists continued to use vivid colours and paint from life, but they were more inclined to distort forms for expressive effect and use unnatural colours. They explored geometric structures and abstract forms, emphasising the emotional and aesthetic value of colour. While the Impressionists worked as a close-knit group, the Post-Impressionists often exhibited together despite their differing individual styles. This group of artists, based largely in Paris, sought to transition Impressionism into abstract art, symbolism, and other forms of modernism.
Paul Cézanne, often referred to as the father of Post-Impressionism, aimed to bring structure and order to his paintings. He reduced objects to their basic shapes while retaining the vibrant colours of Impressionism. Cézanne's work laid the foundation for Cubism, with its emphasis on depicting the structure of objects. Similarly, Georges Seurat, another key figure in Post-Impressionism, developed the style of Pointillism, using tiny dots of contrasting colours to achieve luminosity and capture the effects of light.
Post-Impressionism, therefore, represented a shift away from the purely naturalistic concerns of Impressionism towards a more symbolic and expressive mode of artistic expression. The movement paved the way for early 20th-century modernism and the exploration of abstraction.
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The birth of Fauvism
Post-Impressionism was a predominantly French art movement that developed between 1886 and 1905. Post-Impressionist artists extended Impressionism while rejecting its limitations, particularly its concern for the naturalistic depiction of light and colour. They continued to use vivid colours and paint from life, but emphasised geometric forms, distorted forms for expressive effect, and used unnatural colours. Post-Impressionists also focused on abstract form and pattern, and their early leanings towards abstraction paved the way for modernist exploration in the early 20th century.
Fauvism emerged in France at the beginning of the 20th century, marking a shift from Post-Impressionism. Fauvism can be seen as an extreme development of Van Gogh's Post-Impressionism, combined with the pointillism of Seurat and other Neo-Impressionist painters. Fauvism lasted only a few years, from 1905 to 1908, and had three exhibitions. The movement's leaders were André Derain and Henri Matisse, who were inspired by the Post-Impressionist work of Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Georges Seurat.
Matisse arrived at the Fauve style after experimenting with various Post-Impressionist approaches. He rejected traditional renderings of three-dimensional space, instead seeking a new picture space defined by the movement of colour. Matisse's famous painting, Woman with the Hat (1905), exemplifies this style, with brisk strokes of blue, green, and red forming an expressive view of a woman. The crude paint application shocked viewers at the time.
The paintings of the Fauves were characterised by seemingly wild brushwork and strident colours, with a high degree of simplification and abstraction. The Fauves used pure, brilliant colours straight from the paint tubes, creating a sense of an explosion on the canvas. They painted directly from nature, but their works were invested with a strong expressive reaction to the subjects portrayed. The immediate visual impression of the work was strong and unified, and Fauvism valued individual expression above all else. The artist's direct experience of their subjects and their emotional response to nature were more important than academic theory.
Fauvism was an important precursor to Cubism and Expressionism, as well as a touchstone for future modes of abstraction. One of Fauvism's major contributions to modern art was its goal of separating colour from its descriptive purpose, allowing it to exist independently on the canvas.
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Primitivism and Symbolism
Post-Impressionism is a predominantly French art movement that emerged as a reaction to the limitations of Impressionism. Post-Impressionist painters sought to transcend the Impressionist focus on the naturalistic depiction of light and colour, and the triviality of subject matter. Instead, they prioritised symbolism and emotional expression in their works.
The Symbolist movement in Post-Impressionism aimed to convey ideas and emotions through line and colour, manipulating rural and exotic subject matter. Gauguin, as a pioneer of Symbolism, employed flattened decorative effects and stylized forms inspired by his travels. He and other Symbolists, including Henri Matisse and the Fauves, sought to express their emotions and establish a profound connection with their audience.
Post-Impressionist painters often used distorted forms and non-naturalistic colours to elicit mood and express personal emotions. They embraced evocative colours, geometric forms, and distinctive brushwork to convey expressive impact. This use of colour as a tool to convey deeper meanings marked a significant break from previous artistic practices.
The emphasis on symbolic and expressive content in Post-Impressionist art led to the development of individual artistic styles. While artists like Gauguin and Seurat had differing approaches and opinions of each other's work, they shared a common goal of expanding the boundaries of Impressionism.
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Pointillism and Neo-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction against Impressionists' concern for the naturalistic depiction of light and colour. Post-Impressionists extended Impressionism while rejecting its limitations. They continued using vivid colours, sometimes using impasto (thick application of paint) and painting from life, but were more inclined to emphasise geometric forms, distort form for expressive effect, and use unnatural or modified colour.
Georges Seurat and his followers concerned themselves with Pointillism, the systematic use of tiny dots of colour. In 1884, Seurat revealed an intention similar to Cézanne’s with paintings that showed more attention to composition than did those of the Impressionists and that delved into the science of colour. He sought to achieve luminosity through optical formulas, placing side by side tiny dots of contrasting colours chosen to blend from a distance into a dominant colour. This technique is called Pointillism, which refers to the use of a point, or dot, as the basis for the construction of a painting. The larger stylistic movement of Seurat's followers is known as Neo-Impressionism, but the movement is also identified as "chromo-luminarism" or Divisionism.
Neo-Impressionism emerged in the late 19th century and rejected the spontaneous brushwork of Impressionism in favour of a more structured approach to creating paintings. It used a methodical technique known as Pointillism or Divisionism, which involved the application of thousands of tiny dots. This movement was influenced by the scientific examination of colour theory and optical effects, resulting in the creation of paintings that were more harmonious and radiant. Neo-Impressionism is characterised by the application of dots of pure colour, precise and distinct outlines around the shapes, resulting in compositions that are vibrant and infused with light.
The Neo-Impressionists chose to paint primarily in the studio rather than outdoors, contrary to the Impressionists who emphasised spontaneous, plein air painting. The Neo-Impressionist style focused on the representation of modern-day life and scenery and was carefully planned in both technique and purpose, unlike the more spontaneous and intuitive methods of Impressionism. Neo-Impressionism continued to exert a significant influence even after Seurat’s death in 1891.
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Post-Impressionism's legacy
Post-Impressionism, a predominantly French art movement, developed between 1886 and 1905. It emerged as a reaction against Impressionists' concern for the naturalistic depiction of light and colour. Post-Impressionists extended Impressionism while rejecting its limitations. They continued using vivid colours and painting from life, but emphasised geometric forms, distorted forms for expressive effect, and used unnatural colours. They rejected the limited aim of naturalistic depiction in favour of more ambitious, subjective expression. This shift in focus from nature to the artist's mind and soul led to the two major movements of early 20th-century art: Cubism and Fauvism.
The term Post-Impressionism was coined by English art critic Roger Fry in 1906 to describe the work of late 19th-century painters such as Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and others. Most of these artists began as Impressionists but abandoned the style to form their own highly personal art.
Post-Impressionism can be divided into two general stylistic trends. The first is the structured or geometric style, which led to Cubism. This style was characterised by a focus on abstract form and pattern and was influenced by Cézanne's aim to make Impressionism "solid and durable, like the art of the museums". The second trend is expressive or non-geometric art, which led to Abstract Expressionism. This trend includes the work of van Gogh, who used agitated lines, brilliant colours, and distorted perspectives to express his acutely felt emotions.
While the Post-Impressionists did not view themselves as a collective movement, they shared a rejection of the limitations of Impressionism and a focus on ambitious, subjective expression. This shift in focus from nature to the artist's mind paved the way for new artistic movements and influenced generations of artists.
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Frequently asked questions
Post-Impressionism is a predominantly French art movement that emerged roughly between 1886 and 1905. It is characterised by a rejection of Impressionism's focus on the naturalistic depiction of light and colour, instead emphasising symbolic content, formal order, and structure.
Post-Impressionist paintings are characterised by a focus on abstract form and pattern, with artists experimenting with geometric, distorted forms and colours not found in nature. They also retained the use of vivid colours and real-life subjects from Impressionism.
Some well-known Post-Impressionist paintings include *The Starry Night* by Vincent van Gogh, *Arearea* by Paul Gauguin, and *La Blanchisseuse* by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Notable artists of the Post-Impressionist movement include Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Henri Rousseau.
Post-Impressionism is an extension of Impressionism but with a rejection of its limitations. Post-Impressionists emphasised symbolic content and structure, often using geometric forms and unnatural colours. They were dissatisfied with the trivial subjects and lack of structure in Impressionist paintings.
