Impressionism and revolution Essay Example for Free

Impressionism and revolution Essay Impressionism was started in 1860. It flourished for 3 decades. It mainly took place in Paris, France. In fact, Impressionism was against neo-classicism, which was too concentrated on academic exhibition. Impressionism was also against Romanticism. â€Å"By the second half of the eighteenth century the advancement of the individual was taking another important step forward, in that cluster of activities in art and literature generally known as Romanticism. It is emotions and feelings†. Impressionism is different than Romanticism, although romanticism also liked to use color; they focused deeply in interior feeling. Impressionism mainly focused on the light, subject matter, with broad brush stroke. People wanted a treatment of subject matter, a new approach, and commitment to the Realism. During the Impressionism Movement, twenty more color pigments were invented to provide a better chance for the artistic revolution, â€Å"After science and industrial development, people started to focus the scenario around them. More than twenty intense yellow, green, blue, red, and orange pigments were invented between 1800 and 1870. † The impressionists had more resources to express their theme and the styles through the art work. The color invention let painters to draw the paints much quicker. As a result, it brought out a new dynamic revolution, people believed in what their eyes saw, they focused on the color and form in the painting. During that time, people loved painting with Parisian scenes. Most of them were painting on the living scene of the streets. Industrial and Urbanization Revolution Impressionists depicted a lot of social scenes during the French Industrial and Urbanization revolution. â€Å"All the developments inherent in Modernism such as increasing secularism, scientific advances, new and more efficient modes of transportation and the rise of both socialism and the middle class, were factors in the changes that led to Impressionism. † From the Claude Monet’s, Saint-Lazare, Train Station, 1877 the train was actually what Monet saw, not just his imagination. The paint was full of energetic feelings from those volatile steams and smoke. Monet was excited about the color he saw at the moment. As a result, he used quick sketches in the paint. The paint showed the very early morning of the Paris Station at a time when people had already started working. The trains had a motion that were coming toward the audience. Industrial revolution was one of the biggest social impacts in the 1860. Monet was the pioneer to Impressionism into Revolution, â€Å"One certain thing about Impressionism is that it was not the sudden whim of a group of artists working in late-nineteenth-century in France, driven purely by a desire to create a revolution in painting. It was an essential part of the unfolding history of western civilization. † Monet was concerned about the effect of light in the painting. By showing the magic of the color combination, we can realize how Monet’s interest in science is visible through his drawing. He liked to have quick sketch in the paint. While he would repaint the paint again with the same angle over and over again at different time, so that the contrast of light movement could be more obvious. Impressionists also showed the urbanization revolution in France. In fact, the government had a large reconstruction in the streets and electricity systems starting 1860. In their paintings Gustavo Caillebotte, Paris: A Rainy Day, 1877 and Camille Pissarro, La Place du Theatre Francais, 1898 they provided a new dramatic city outlook for Paris. Many painters chose Paris streets to start their paintings, for example, there had so many people walking in and out of the streets. It really showed the urbanization city of Paris. â€Å"Interested in making an imperial statement through his redesign of Paris and in facilitating the movement of troops in the event of another revolution† (871). In fact, this is called â€Å"Haussmannization†. As Haussmann, the emperor of France, decided to rebuild all of Paris at that time period. The Impressionists depicted so many real Industrial and Urbanization to show the revolution in France during the Revolution period. The Industrial Revolution, which had made these technical advances possible, transformed Europe in the nineteenth century and influenced the lives and work of the Impressionists in a wide variety of ways. Railways started to proliferate mainly during the reign of Napoleon III. The growth of the railways enabled the Impressionists to visit easily and frequently those places which became closely associated with them. Monet travel around the earth. The development of gas and lightning gave Impressionists a new freedom. Thanks to the development of railroads, Monet, Sisley, Renoir and Pissarro had a chance and were living together and working together in the resorts. â€Å"The political world the first great assertion of this attitude, the French revolution, was followed by the rule of Napoleon, more autocratic and in art, the growth of feeling and sensibility apparent in the work of painters such as†¦Ã¢â‚¬  imposition of a hierarchy of subject- matter, and its general authoritarism. Shifting Social and Class of People Because of the industrial revolution, people earned a better income which led to the shift in social and economic class of people. From Georges Seurat, A Sunday on la Grande Jatte, 1884-1886. â€Å"Impressionist painters wanted to capture the rapidly changing modern world and the fleeting moods of nature. Impressionism relied on optical blending to depict the fluctuations of light and consisted largely of views of everyday middle-class life in the city and countryside of France† Seurat realized the shifting social and class relationships during the impressionism period. From his paint, on the left corner, a short sleeves worker was sitting with the middle class man and woman together. It illustrated that the social and class gap was shorten already. All Parisians from different classes gathered together. By drawing this picture, it showed a real situation in history. As France opened its import and export market to other countries in Europe, even in Japan, people can make more money. Seurat is using an analytical approach to draw this painting by using good relationship between color and line. Seurat was also avant-garde in the techniques that he used. He came up with the idea of pointillism, the using of dots to create a whole picture, and used it in all of his paintings. It fascinated the viewers of the time as it still does today. He loved pure colors and never mixed them. Instead, he would use many different color dots close together to form a different color. He was famous for using the paint straight from the tube. Monet’s brush strokes also classified him as avant-garde. His layering of oils are thick and sometimes muddled when view up close, but when the viewer stands back they are actually more unified. New Techniques in Painting by the Impressionist While pointillism and brush strokes were new innovations in painting, there were other new techniques and inventions as well. First, there were paint extenders. Something that would make the paint thicker was definitely needed. Additives to thicken the paint were used for the first time by adding stabilizers. Barium sulphate was the most common stabilizer to be used and it increased the life of the paintings. Impressionist turned their backs on the old themes of religion, mythology, and historical events as their inspiration for their paintings. Instead, they chose real scenes in nature, still life, and portraits. It was the artistic period known as Realism, and the art must match the new thoughts in literature and music. The Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and the American Civil War were just a few of the reasons that people of that time wanted to focus on things that were real. They had enough of the magical and mythical subjects offered by Romanticism. So the painters of the Impressionistic Period gave them what they wanted. There paintings weren’t just about a subject, but they told a story. Most Impressionist painters chose to move their studios outside in the natural surroundings which would become the subjects of their paintings. They wanted to be in direct contact with the subjects that they would immortalize in their art. Some wanted to be in fields, mountains, along or on water, while some moved right onto the busy streets of the city to catch everyday life as it really is. When the weather was uncooperative, painters like Monet and Renoir, and many others used glass to their advantage. In many instances their inside studios looked like glass rooms. Light was also a focus of the Impressionistic painters. They went to great lengths to ensure that they displayed the lighting at different times of day correctly. In fact they were many times more interested in the light than they were the actual subject. This led to many artist painting several different pictures of the same scene in nature. They wanted to make sure that it was captured perfectly at different times of the day, different weather, and different seasons. Another color technique used by the Impressionist painters was the use of the primary colors, blue, yellow and red, and they used them with the complementary colors of orange, green and purple. When used together, not blending, but along side of each other, they colors were created were numerous. When viewed at a distance, these colors blended perfectly, but when the viewer was close, the differences could be seen. This was a radical way to paint from the Romantics and their predecessors. Conclusion Impressionism was the first real break from traditions in the world of art. It introduced many new artists and each added his/her own variations to the art form. In fact, there were so many different types of Impressionism that is quite difficult to give a blanket definition of the art. One thing that they all had in common was that they were different from the artists of the past and they would influence artists of the future. They would directly influence the Modernist artist and those who were interested in Cubism. From their brush strokes to their fascination of light, the Impressionists were innovative. They allowed viewers of their art to look at paintings from a completely different point of view. Gone were the old days, and the new, realistic subjects were on the scene. While considered extreme at the time, most people came around in a short amount of time. Impressionistic paintings are now seen as art in its purest form. These innovative artists gave the world many new techniques that are still used around the world, not just in Europe, where Impressionism began. The use of color and their thoughts on color were unique, but made sense when the final product was done. Impressionism is the form of art that most people are familiar with. Who hasn’t heard of Monet, Renoir, or Seurat? It is amazing how an art form that was so different could go down in history as of the most admired.