Impressionism (Part 2): 1880 - 1915

• Impressionists began to create shades through colour, almost completely abandoning the use of black. Mid-tones and contour lines were also eliminated.

• The first Impressionist exhibition was in 1874, and the last in 1888.

• The death of Manet signposted in a symbolic way, the gregation of the Impressionists.

• In a nutshell, the 19th century was the dissolution of the naturalistic theory of art. The abandonment of the idealistic depiction of reality in favour of individuality. Then the imitative, the memesis collapses, art as memesis of nature - bastion of art. Step by step artists were edging towards abstraction. If all of these things are abandoned, then art can be free itself from the initiative expressiveness, and can begin to speak its own abstract language - Liberated art.

• The Impressionists depicted the leisure activities of the bourgeoisie.

Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre, Paris

• Windmills had been in Montmartre since the 1860s, they were transformed into dancing parties and eateries. These are one of the most reoccurring subjects of the late Impressionist artists.

Renoir, Le Moulin de la Galette, 1876, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

• One of the most famous paintings of the Impressionists is Renoir's Le Moulin de la Galette. Many Impressionists painted urban scenes and contemporary society, they were the painters of modern life. They have no clear subject, no moral attached. But it is a carefully constructed painting. It is on a large canvas and painted en plein air. The focus is on the rendering of the light, the effect of light - patches of light filtering through the trees onto the figures. Renoir also retains the solidity of the human form and drapery.

Renoir, Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1881, The Phillips Collection, Washington DC

• This is another famous painting by Renoir. Step by step, Renoir goes back to a more traditional way of painting, much more solid. These very feathery brushstrokes and flickering taches of the painting (much like Monet). But step by step he went back to a more monumental solid way of painting. Renoir was very interested in the human form. This is a very contemporary narrative, a gathering of people drinking and enjoying a Sunday afternoon on the Seine, complexly structured on a diagonal.

Renoir, The Umbrellas 1881-86, National Gallery, London

• Contour lines are clearly marked in black. Mid-tones, more solid. Renoir and Degas both went back to a more traditional way of painting.

Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street, Rainy Day, 1877, Art Institute of Chicago, USA

• Caillebotte's technique was borderline Impressionistic, he used some taches, but his surface is very carefully painted. He was the least Impressionist Impressionist artist, clearly holding on to his academic training. He was not as avant-garde as the other artists, but still very talented.

Mary Cassatt, The Boating Party, 1893-94, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

• This is a very famous painting by Mary Cassatt. She gravitated around Renoir and Monet. Women could finally enter the academy. She was a rich American who moved to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and trained as an academic painter, she came to Paris, visited Rome, and lived in Parma. She was an independent upper class woman. She embraced the visual arts, came to Paris, befriended Renoir, Monet and Degas, and from the 1880s her style and technique drastically changed. The composition of this painting is unusual, but the weight of it is very academic. It depicts the female vision of female life, without the male gaze.

Mary Cassatt, Selected Color Prints, c. 1890s, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Japanese Prints

• Mary Cassatt was especially famous for her set of colour prints of women in their toilette, writing letters, motherhood and unfiltered daily activities. These prints were so celebrated because the of the female interpretation of the female body without the influence of the male gaze. Like many of the Impressionist artists, she too was obsessed with and collected Japanese prints, and was very much inspired by them. The flat surfaces, absence of perspective, very modern use of colour, composition and patterns of these prints show clear influences drawn from the Japanese prints.

Café de la Nouvelle Athènes, Paris

• Another great place in Paris in the late 1800s was the Café de la Nouvelle Athènes. This was one of the great cafes where the Impressionists and academics would have gathered at the time.

• The bohemian life, the underbelly of Paris was one of the favourite subjects for paintings:

Degas, L'Absinthe, 1876, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Manet, The Plum, 1878, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

• Or the depiction of Urban Paris:

• Monet was the Impressionist artist who was least interested in the bourgeois and the urban life of Paris. He remains faithful to his experimentation of his study of colour and light, which is after all the basis of Impressionism. How light changes the colours of forms. His work becomes more and more abstract. The late works by Monet are almost completely unrecognisable.

Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral, 1892-94

• For example, Rouen Cathedral. Monet was interested in gothic architecture as it lends itself to catch the light in many different ways. He carefully studied the effect of light at different times of day, and in different weather conditions.

Monet, Haystacks, 1890-91

• This is also evident in his Haystacks series. This is one of the most humble subjects, what is important in these images is not the subject, but the light, the seasons, how the light completely changes the image.

Monet, Water-Lily Pond,  1897, The Art Museum, Princeton University

• Water-Lily Pond was painted in the huge garden retreat that Monet constructed, influenced by Japanese gardens, complete with a Japanese style bridge. The creation of this garden allowed him to experiment even more with light, nature and water, and the effect of light on everything. His work becoming more and more an abstract composition.

Monet, Reflections of Clouds on the Water-Lily Pond, c.1920, Museum of Modern Art, New York

• This painting is a late Monet, and stretches across 3 gigantic canvases. 

Monet, Les Nymphéas, 18-14-26, Musée de l'Organgerie, Paris

• Site specific commission. Monet has created a sort of abstract expressionism. Experimentation with colour and pure abstract form becomes popular in the 1950s. The atmosphere and the impact of colour on the viewer is very romantic.

Degas, Miss La La the Cirque Fernando, 1879, National Gallery, London

• Degas remained interested with Parisian life, especially with dancers. He was older than the other Impressionist artists that he exhibited alongside. He too was obsessed with Japanese prints and photographic images.

Degas, The Star, 1878, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Degas, Dancers at the Bar, c. 1900, The Phillips Collection, Washington DC

• In the late 1970/80s Degas produced his signature paintings, dancers. Not only in paintings, but in sculpture too. His work also becomes more and more abstract, incorporating some of the great innovations of Cézanne.

Degas, The Tub, 1886, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Degas, The Tub, 1981, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

• Degas also painted snapshots of interiors, of women bathing themselves and drying themselves after a bath. These were mostly executed in pastels. Some of these were of his wife, others were models. Very anti-academic. Mostly viewed from the back, with no clear composition. These prints are less typical Degas, less obsessed with the classical figure, but like Renoir, obsessed with the human form and figure.