Art is
not what you see, but what you make others see.
~Edgar Degas
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| Dance Class- Degas |
For part 2 of painting I’m going to talk about my second
favorite period Impressionism. I love
impressionist paintings for the broad range of color and the different
technique. Moving away from the
humanistic approach of the renaissance through baroque periods, impressionism
was a fresh new approach involving beautiful landscapes and a different
perspective.
Impressionism seen as a realist period was at first
condemned.
Started by a group of Paris
artists who had a problem with the way art was being accepted in the city
impressionism was born as a response to the harsh rules set in place by a
intuition know as The Academy.
This
academy was against the rising use of a realistic point of view in many of the
paintings and refused to show the paintings in their shows.
Angry the group of artists held their own
shows to showcase their controversial pieces.
While it was still made fun of having annual shows like this eventually
won people over to the ways of impressionism.
Compared to the other paintings being sow around this time impressionism was a radical new change.
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| Le Coucher Du Soleil La Seine- Monet |
Characterize by its use of complementary colors, soft
natural lights and less blending than previous; impressionism gained its
popularity in the late 1800’s and had many well-known artists attributed to the
movement.
There was an emphasis on
natural light, not using the color black (although some still did), working in
natural settings outside, and a need to capture the essence of a painting not
the details.
Capturing the essence of
what they were using as a model was the whole point of impressionist paintings.
They wanted to capture the feeling of
landscape or the model, what they thought one should feel.
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| Garden Argenteil- Monet |
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| Waiting- Degas |
I have two favorite painters in this movement and they would
be Monet and Edgar Degas. Monet was
known for his colorful landscapes featuring many different places around France. He was consider the essential impressionist
painter who fully embodied what they wanted and stood for. Edgar Degas is known for his many ballet
paintings and sculptures showing different dancers in various forms even on stage. Although he hated the term he is one of the
most world-renowned impressionist painters. Both artists were known for participating in
the impressionist exhibits held once a year and actually had paintings in many
years in a row.
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| Rehearsal on the Stage- Degas |
I first discovered impressionism in my sophomore year art
class. After watching movies on the
painters we were to create an oil pastel of anything we wanted and I, inspired
by the impressionist paintings, choose to do a Monet painting I found on a
postcard. It was an interesting project
and I liked it a lot so I did another one my senior year in my independent art
class at first I wanted to a Degas but ended up going with another Monet.
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| Lilies - Monet |
Impressionism has
always been a form of art I admired but I truly fell in love after that
project. The bright colors and use of
brush stokes made every painting I came across very intriguing. The landscapes used colors I originally had never
thought of, the tones had a usually positive nature, and the way everything
looked dotted makes it fun. Impressionism
implies that we can take away anything we want from the paintings in my opinion
it means it makes a different impression on different people. In my case it said give me a try and I decided
that it was the form of art I could love and try and master.
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| Ballet Rehearsal- Degas |
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| Sunrise- Monet |
What do you like about Impressionism??
