The Da Vinci's

This is my view on the Post-Impressionism art movement which was

1880-1890.

Post-Impressionist paintings were seen as an overall rejection of the Impressionism's limitations on the spontaneous recording of light and colour. Yet there seemed to be a cohesion within the compositions as they were more focused on the personal experiences of the painters, and that they seemed to show a more formal order and structure to their work.

And that is why the Post-Impressionism characteristics were seen to be more accentuated brushstrokes, thicker application of paint, more personal expression, use of style over fidelity, multiple moments or angles, brighter palettes, and a move away from the journalistic details of earlier periods (due to the improvement of film).

I have tried to select pieces of art that was not as well known, and whilst the Artists names are easily recognisable I would like to think some of the pieces I have chosen are not so known. And when I went to select a few pieces I was then torn between the ever so slight difference of the European and the American movements and that their passage through this time was ever so similar. Unknownly before I wrote this, did I realise the relationships between the artists and how they influenced each other which lead on to them finding themselves ..........

Artists I selected were:

• Anton Mauve, Holland, 1838-1888 (Vincent Van Gogh's cousin in law) realist painter
• John Singer Sargent, American, 1856-1925 (But born in Italy) realist/generalist
• Claude Monet, France, 1840-1926 (Founder/Leader of French Impressionists painters)
• Vincent Van Gogh, Netherlands, 1853-1890 (Pioneered Expressionistic style Drawing until he spent 3 weeks in Mauve's studio where he then started painting)

The paintings selected were all Oil on Canvas.

1. Anton Mauve's Changing Pasture, with the bland colour, and brushstrokes being apparent, I felt this had a real feel of being there looking at the working animals, it gave me a sense of hard work, low light dreary day so it was clearly the beginning of this post-impressionism, and he was he original influence in Vincent van Gogh's painting is what fascinated me
   
2. John Singer Sargent's Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, shows more detail even with the bland colour but it was the slight look of exaggeration and space that I believe lead this to be classified as post-impressionism
   
3. Claude Monet's Shadows on the Sea, The Cliffs at Pourville, shows the broken colour and the play on light, with the interesting colours he used even though the view is pretty plain the colours added a depth. He apparently used to paint the exact same view under many different conditions of light and weather. Which is a really nice idea to run with and then to see the series altogether would be amazing
   
4. Vincent van Gogh's Autumn Landscape, this being one of his earliest paintings showed more detail and less colour which I think you can see Mauve's influences. And that it still showed the thick brush strokes just a bit dull in colour at this stage
   
5. Claude Monet's Still Life with Anemones, was more use of colour and which highlighted the depth seen in the leaves, plus the different angled view, along with the thickened brush strokes. This one to me seemed to signify the start Monet's signature artwork probably because of the still-life, colour and brush stroke action
   
6. John Singer Sargent's Claude Monet Painting, this one showed Sargent's friendship with Monet and his influence through this particular piece of art by bringing in more colour, depth and minimism I believe.
   
7. John Singer Sargent's Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, this piece has the light aspect but not so much on the thick brush strokes, as he moved more into the detail. I love how it makes it feel like the painting is really truly lit up
   
8. Vincent van Gogh, Cafe Terrace at Night, I think Van Gogh really was starting to get going on this piece as the separation of the light from the cafe to the darkness of the sky is an incredible contrast, I really like this one
   
9. John Singer Sargent, Paul Helleu Sketching with his Wife, this detail - colour, light, contrast all show that Sargent now has got the portraiture down pack, and I feel that there is nothing much left to question when looking at this except for what is it that Helleu is painting?

There were many other artists to look at like Gauguin, Klee, Rothko but I am happy with who I chose, and as much as I wanted to go more indepth because I loved searching further into their work, sadly I had to restrain myself.

So whilst the above mentioned were all within this timeframe, and they had their favourite ways of doing things, it shows that energetic brushstrokes with expressed emotional qualities, these Post-Impressionists were an eclectic bunch of individuals with a connection, and because of this they are now famous and appreciated.

PS. You can view each of the paintings by clicking on each time line and seeing that particular piece of artwork within that box. To exit that view, click on the top left little triangle of the popped up box and it should bring you back to the original time line. Cheers,