Impressionism Flashcards
Claude Monet, Impression: Sunrise, 1872
Impressionism= experience of modernity, shifting, fast-paced world
this painting credited for giving impressionism its name, originally pejorative
reflection of sun in choppy waves below, sky illuminated; blue and orange complementary colors creates shimmering effect
Harbor of Le Havre, Normandy where Monet spent youth
industry is backlit- true subject is light & atmosphere- he experimented with changing effects of light & atmosphere on viewer’s perception
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Le Moulin de la Galette, 1876
Renoir was first to apply Impressionist brushwork to figure painting
painted middle-class at leisure
brushstrokes are blotchy, unfinished
suggests momentary glimpse of activities instead of detailed focus of neoclassical work
modernity=lack of fixity, modern urban life is new, impermanent- influence is Japonisme- woodblocks -oblique angles, unconventional asymmetrical compositions- seen here in cropping of figures/barriers
Gustave Caillebotte, Paris: A Rainy Day, 1877
adopted Impressionist compositional devices, but not brushwork, known for his street walking scenes
used old photographs but composition is asymmetrically oblique and disjointed; cropped figure on right, most of the positive space is on the right, figures do not acknowledge us or each other
lamp post transects scene, draws eye inward, eyes of couple draw our gaze to the left, but nothing to look at, no focalizer- represents disjointedness, discomfort of modern life, uncertainty of relationships
Edouard Manet, Bar at the Folies-Bergeres, 1881-82
barmaid surrounded by various drinks, behind barmaid suggests mirror with entertainment (e.g. trapeze), yet she sees right through us, aloof, emotionless
Is the man in the top hat asking for drink or after-hours prostitution?
final version confuses viewer re: relationship to painting- reflection is moved far to right- is it a reflection of the barmaid or two other individuals? strange angles, awkward cropping, activities of upper middle class yet uncertainty of relationships= modernity
Edgar Degas, The Rehearsal on Stage, 1874
interest in field and angle of vision, perception of moving bodies, not light/color/atmosphere; preferred indoor, urban scenes, often ballet
not interested in performance but backstage rehearsal
uses similar japonisme compositional devices- hovering slightly above scene, awkward cropping (e.g. handle of instrument blocks our view), oblique angles, main action is not center but far background right, rest of scene sketchy and unfinished
fleeting moment of bourgeois entertainment, changing
