Ch 6

• Impressionism was an artistic movement inspired by the simplicity of everyday life
• The name 'Impressionism' was given by an art critic at the first exhibition of this art group in 1874
• Impressionist artists focused on the effect of light on objects and painted in open air to capture natural, ever-changing effects of light and color
• Impressionism represented a major break between classical and modern painting, rebelling against conventional and academic standards
• Pioneering artists of Impressionism include Claude Monet, Eduardo Manet, Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas
• Post Impressionism was an extension and rejection of Impressionism, focusing on distinctive brush strokes, vivid colors, and giving importance to geometrical or distorted forms to express inner feelings
• George Seurat and his followers focused on pointillism, using tiny dots of color systematically
• Paul Cezanne introduced a sense of volume and structure to painting
• Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh used vibrant swirling brush strokes and colors to convey their feelings and state of mind
• Claude Monet was a dedicated artist known for capturing the ever-changing moods of nature
• In his series "Water Lilies" in 1899-1900, he painted the Japanese Bridge across the pond as a central feature
• Monet painted the sky's reflections in vibrant colors to add depth to his paintings
• Auguste Renoir painted "Moulin de la Galette" in 1876, showing young people enjoying life, picnics, dance, and party
• Renoir used shades of purple, white, and blue tones to unite figures dressed in fashionable clothes
• Renoir's works show tenderness, harmony, and delight in color, portraying joy of life
• Edgar Degas, unlike other Impressionists, focused on human presence in his paintings
• Degas painted ballet dancers in frilled skirts, capturing movement and gesture with off-centered compositions
• He preferred artificial light of the theatre over sunlight and used pastel as his favorite medium
• Paul Cezanne, a post-Impressionist, simplified natural forms into solid geometrical shapes like cones, cylinders, and cubes
• Cezanne's painting "Still Life with Onions" shows forms rendered through light and shade in varying tones of the same colors
• His style forms a bridge between late 19th-century Impressionism and early 20th-century modernism or Cubism
• Vincent Van Gogh, a Dutch painter, focused on color in his paintings, depicting natural scenes in terms of colors rather than light and shade
• In his painting "Starry Night," he depicted a night sky filled with stars, swirling clouds, and a bright moon
• Van Gogh's "Starry Night" conveys his inner conflicts and sleepless nights through bold slabs of blue and white oil colors