Post Impressionism and Cubism
Unlike traditional art styles like that of realism, both movements of post impressionism and cubism explored the more human expression side of art. They elevated towards a more open way to defines ones emotions and feelings by using traits like color expression as opposed to color theory. The two artists that are most notability known for their work during these movements are Vincent Van Gogh with his painting The Starry Night and Pablo Picasso with his Weeping Woman painting. These two artist and there work would later inspire artists to create pieces centered around the ideas of free thinking and self-expression. Post Impressionism and cubism are just some of the early styles to bring about this change and help
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to shape our modern art that we know of today. Post Impressionism introduced the use of color expression and early forms of pointillism, as well as cubism. An artist looking to contribute to this new art form would no longer be bound by color theory or realistic styled paintings. For many, Post Impressionism was a way for anyone to express what they felt when looking at the world around them. From Vincent Van Gogh’s artwork we see this used in many different ways, whether it be with brush strokes or the use of arbitrary colors to pull your attention to certain objects. Although many of his works helped to inspire and amaze future artist, Van Gogh was prone to early forms of depression and epilepsy. He was known to paint for long periods while under these psychological conditions which allowed him to be so imaginative. However, a second mental breakdown, Van Gogh was sent to a sanatorium near Saint-Remy, France in June of 1889. Here, Van Gogh created one of his most recognizable paintings, The Starry Night. The painting portrays a nocturnal landscape of a quiet Victorian style village under a night sky filled with whirling clouds and stars that shine with a rich yellow outlining. Hope seems to be one of the main themes to the painting as explained by the theory that even on the darkest nights, when death can seem emanate, there is always a light to lead the way. Cubism is best described as an art style in which perspective is viewed at multiple vantage points comprised of geometric shapes. This art form can also be used to describe Pablo Picasso’s early depictions of collage. With his Weeping Woman, we see his use and understanding of cubism expressed very vividly. It does this by using some of the key factors of cubism. The first expression of cubism is seen with the use of multiply perspectives and how this captures the shape of the figures face and hands. The second cubism factor expressed is the use of synthetic cubism. Seen throughout the piece, this buildup of shapes and lines are used to give the depiction of the womanly figure seen before us. The meaning behind this painting ties back into a figure seen in a mural he did called Guernica. In it, we see Picasso’s response to the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by German forces during the Spanish Civil War. This figure that Picasso pulls from the original painting becomes the Weeping Woman. The painting could then be considered a more indebt look into the sorrow and fear seen in the woman what with the sharp expressive facial features and the use of blue around the hands to represent her catching tiers. The Starry Night by Van Gogh is a good example of post Impressionism because of how it captures the feeling of color expression and also leaves an open interpretation of meaning to anyone who views it. His use of color and shapes tie together to help create this idea whether you may see it as sad with the use of blues or optimistic with the usage of bright stars in a dark sky. The context in which the painting could be interpreted as a sort of sad and depressed reflection is how the rotting tree in the foreground is a symbol that represents this feeling of death as it hangs above the quite town below, waiting for its people to fall one by one. As an artist who struggled with mental illness, Van Gogh expressed a simple philosophy to the world that some would say was influenced by this condition. This philosophy revolved around the idea that life should be used to produce good work and one should par- take in leisure often after work in order to reconnect and think about their next steps in life. Seen in a majority of his work, Van Gogh’s belief that one should create work that shows actual time and thought spent should be considers good art. Van Gogh seems to feels as if this idea has been lost and simplicity will slowly push out this proses of thought and time. His ideas of free thinking are historically more associated with his usage of mind altering drugs. Like most artists around this time, this practice aided in Van Gogh’s art and also in his philosophies on free thinking. Van Gogh’s work emphasizes a tone of life being constant and flowing to the next scene. We see this more affirmed by his use of long and thin brush strokes to illustrate this idea. The ironic thing about the popularity of Van Gogh’s art is that once he pasted, only then his artwork became popular in style and in value. Picasso’s Weeping Woman uses a form of cubism known as synthetic cubism.
Synthetic cubism is defined as building a figure or object up into something that is created using both arbitrary colors and geometric shapes. Picasso was known for painting in this style to also show more emotion and give us as viewers a multiple perspective look. The emotion seen in this painting is done by his use of sharp geometric shapes around the eyes and mouth to emphasize the fear and sadness seen in the women’s face. These traits fit in with the cubism movement because of how they are essential when creating a cubism painting. The cultural context in which the painting is associated with ties into WWII. After a bombing of the northern Spanish territory of Basque, Picasso, originally from this region, felt devastated after hearing of this news. As a result he began to create a series of paintings that expressed his feelings towards this event. Many of the paintings in this series highlighted the gruesomeness of war whether it be by showing off a burning house that ignites the city or a soldier with blown off body parts laying down in the street. His painting the Weeping Woman derives from this series which was used to show the pain and fear of these people during this time of civil war. The model used for most of the paintings that were created in the series was Dora Maar. Her importance stems from her occupation as being in charge for documenting the stages of Picasso’s art carrier. Picasso …show more content…
chose her to model for the Weeping Woman because of how he describes, “…women are suffering machines.” This is because of how Picasso believes that woman are more expressive physically in their appearance than that of a man. As an artist, Picasso’s typical art style was modern abstract with a usage of muted colors and also abstract colors. We see this used in his art and especially in his Weeping Woman piece with the abstract colors and geometric shapes. Both works are comprised with similarities and differences.
The most noticeable comparison made by both works is there usage of abstract colors. This is because the art styles they use, cubism and post impressionism, include the idea of color expression. We see both use this component in order to draw our attention to either the night sky and the many twinkling stars seen in Van Gogh’s Starry Night or the sad pale blue expressions used to draw sadness in Picasso’s Weeping Woman. Starry Night could also be considered using a mild form of synthetic cubism. This can be defined by the small town in the center of the painting being made up from simple geometric shape to create the town and its surrounding features. The similarities seen in Picasso’s Weeping Woman are how both works seem to use blue in order to express emotion and or death. Knowing that Picasso’s painting deals with the tragic misfortune that is war and how life is seemingly meaningless during it, Van Gogh’s painting also deals with this conflict. His use of the cypress tree in the foreground gives us the interpretation that death is always around you, waiting for you to slip up. The tree hangs over the town, anticipating death. The town could also be considered as Dutch, which is significant because of how in just a few decades, war may be seen in this area and the tree was the warning sign that predicted
this. Though these works of art are similar in themes and color expression, they are painted with different styles and are distant in meaning. Picasso, being a cubist, creates art to have the viewer think about certain social and economic issues, this being mostly the civil war in Spain. In contrast, Van Gogh’s themes pertain mostly to loneliness and death. Even though both works originally were compare to possessing this idea of war and death, both express this in different ways. In Picasso’s work, the main idea of the piece was to be associated with WWI and the conflicts that were happening in Spain. In Van Gogh’s work, the relation to war is not the main intent but rather the idea of death and how it hangs above us all, unable to ever be vanquished. When introducing the difference in the style and method behind the art works, Picasso gives us a multiple perspective view of the womanly figure while Van Gogh paints us a nocturnal view of the night sky. The use of color expression also differs between the two pieces. Picasso seems to paint with more of an abstract color pallet while in contrast Van Gogh paints with colors that are more of a realism tone that is set throughout the piece. The use of multiple perspectives in Picasso’s Weeping Woman is used to show expression and feeling where Van Gogh’s seems to aim more for a subject matter that is more connected with the interpretation of a snapshot from memory. Together, the two paintings contexts help create a theme that revolves around the idea of expression in the form of color and styles. Sure many other art styles express these features, but not more so that post impressionism and cubism. They are both the fundamental backbone and are considered to be the origins of many different kinds of art styles. Both styles show that to create good art, one must create in ways that doesn’t require you to be constrained be rules or regulations and allows you to create something that only you can consider art. These artists both believed that no matter what level of artist you are, anyone can do it. Both Picasso and Van Gogh are perfect examples for these art styles. Rightfully so, they are still inflectional today. Their art styles are similar enough to compare and both embrace freedom of expression. Lastly, the two pieces compared and their characteristics help remind us that art is to also be what you make of it, only you can judge yourself.
During Vincent Van Gogh’s childhood years, and even before he was born, impressionism was the most common form of art. Impressionism was a very limiting type of art, with certain colors and scenes one must paint with. A few artists had grown tired of impressionism, however, and wanted to create their own genre of art. These artists, including Paul Gaugin, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Paul Cezanne, hoped to better express themselves by painting ...
Coming from a family greatly involved in art dealing, Vincent van Gogh was destined to have a place in the world of art. Van Gogh’s unique techniques and use of color, which clashed and differed greatly from the masters of the art world of his time, would eventually gain him the recognition as one of the founders of modern art. Van Gogh’s early life was heavily influenced by the role of his father who was a pastor and chose to follow in his footsteps. Although he abandoned the desire to become a pastor, van Gogh remained a spiritual being and was strong in faith. Plagued with a troubled mind and poor health, van Gogh’s life became filled with torment and isolation that would influence his career in later life as an artist. In his late twenties, van Gogh had decided that it was God’s divine plan for him to become a painter. His works would express through thoughtful composition and vibrant color, the emotions that he was unable to manifest in the real world. Van Gogh’s perception of reality and his technique would face harsh criticism and never receive full acceptance from his peers as a serious artist during his brief career. In a collection of correspondence entitled The Letters of a Post-Impressionist, Vincent confirmed these thoughts while writing to his brother Theo, “It irritates me to hear people say that I have no "technique." It is just possible that there is no trace of it, because I hold myself aloof from all painters” (27). His technique would later be marveled and revered by the art world. Vincent van Gogh’s legacy would thrive as it challenged the way the world envisioned modern art through his unique brush strokes and profound use of color as seen in his works The Sower and The Night Café. A brief look into...
Pablo Picasso is well renowned as an artist who adapted his style based on the changing currents of the artistic world. He worked in a variety of styles in an effort to continually experiment with the effects and methods of painting. This experimentation led him to the realm of cubism where Picasso worked on creating forms out of various shapes. We are introduced to Picasso’s nonrepresentational art through the advent of the cubist style of painting. During his time working on this style, Picasso developed the painting Woman in the Studio. A painting created late in Picasso’s artistic career, this painting displays many of the characteristics common in cubism. The painting’s title serves as a description of the painting and explains the scenario depicted by Pablo Picasso. In analyzing this work, it is important to observe the subject matter, understand the formal elements of the painting, and attempt to evoke and comprehend the emotions represented in the painting. Woman in the Studio is a painting of cubist origin that combines the standard elements of cubism in order to produce a monochromatic depiction of a woman associated with Picasso.
When talking about such a diverse subject as Art, opinions on the matter of influences, and even the title of “The First…”, begins to become a bit touchy. When it comes to being the ‘first, true modern art style”, Impressionism usually comes to everyone’s mind, although that can often be greatly debated. I, myself am at a toss-up of whether or not I fully agree or disagree with this argument, however, for the sake of this discussion, I will say that my opinion lies in favor of agreement.
The first difference between the two are the colors that were used. Van Gogh used bright blues and yellows to depict the night sky that stretches over the quaint town below. On the other hand, Kahlo used more neutral colors in hers. The sky in her painting is grey and stormy, giving the painting a melancholy feel, while van Gogh’s if full of swirling clouds and rather cheerful. The brush strokes in the paintings are vastly different as well. Van Gogh used thick, layered brushstrokes to give the painting an exaggerated, almost chaotic, feel. The painting technique that van Gogh used is called impasto, taking paint straight from the tube and onto the brush ("Van Gogh, The Starry Night"). This made his paintings more abstract while still keeping the subject obvious. You could always tell what he was painting, whether it was the night sky or his own face. On the other hand, Kahlo used a more realistic approach when painting, making her subjects clear and obvious. She studied biology and anatomy when she was in school, which was reflected in how well she could draw the human body and its parts like the hearts seen in The Two Fridas ("Kahlo, The Two Fridas (Las Dos
Imagine you can own one of the famous painting in the world. Which one would it be? What will you do with it? If I got to own a famous painting, I would hang it in my bedroom and I’ll show it to my family. In this situation, If needed to narrow it down it will be The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali or Nighthawks by Edward Hopper. These paintings are extremely different, and their artistic movement is opposite from one another. By the end of this essay, you’re going to know the differences and similarities of these paintings.
Vincent Van Gogh never gave up his style and insight in his early work compared to his later work. I will discuss the comparison of the Potato Eaters and Starry Night and even though there are obvious differences, the core of his passion and eccentricities can be seen.
In 1907, Picasso created a new type of art, Cubism. For those who don’t know what cubism is, it captured and exaggerated certain features of a subject. “Cubism is renowned as a groundbreaking artistic movement in and of its own right, yet it also influenced generations of artists to follow, shaping the very history of art.” (Unknown 6) This technique changed art all around the world. It helped people express more depths within a painting. To this day, artists look at Picasso’s pieces for inspiration.“There had been no prior artist to Picasso, who had such an impact on the art world, or had a mass following of fans and critics alike, as he did.” (McConell
Jackson Pollack and Vincent van Gogh are some of most famous artist before and after their time. Each artist has a similar and different painting methods that they use when painting pictures. There most well-known paintings are called “Number 1” and “The Starry Night”. The paintings give off emotion by how they look, but each one is painted in different ways. The public did not find their paintings wanting when they were made. The difference was how long it took for them to get recognized for their work. Lastly, the paintings gave different and similar reactions to people that have changed over the years of their existence.
In this essay, I will contrast and compare the two art movements, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism. I will be concentrating on the works of the two leading artists of these styles Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh.
Along with George Braque, Picasso was responsible for the invention of cubism. Cubism is one of the most radical restructuring of the way that a work of art constructs its meaning. Cubism is a term that was derived from a reference made to geometric schemes and cubes. Cubism has been known as the first and the most influential of all movements in twentieth century art . Before Picasso did any cubism paintings, there were works exibititing a raw intensity and violence due to his reading of non western art aligned with European primitivism. This contrasting position provided the dynamic for Picasso’s work. In his paintings such as Mother and Child, Picasso showed the fetishistic and simplifying aspects of primitivism. In his paintings Picasso used bright hues and subdued grays and earth colors. Picasso found out that shapes could have meaning and identities by their arrangement .
Impressionism was a more sensitive medium for more personal expression. Paintings were touched strongly by the spirit of romanticism. These paintings usually contained women and children to symbolize love, sorrow, or despair. Impressionism began with Monet Renoir and Bazille. They all disliked the academic teaching so it was then they decided to paint with a new cause to be different and stand out.
Those visual art styles were created by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Cubism has a great role about the understanding of modernism and that plays a role in the 20th century art till this day. In the article it says: “…Cubism was the cornerstone of twentieth-century art because it broke with past tradition definitively; established “modernist” flatness, opticality, and involvement with the medium of art; and thus sanctioned a new tradition that would lead to nonobjective art as well as to assemblage and to other “modernist” principles and practices.” By reading this it shows that Cubism had a huge impact in the 20th century and that it had something special about it that made it really important. Cubism is all about art and it’s also art, Picasso is really popular because of his work and that was all in the period of Cubism which is still to this day. Cubism is one of the first to be most developed in the modern era, especially in the visual
Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist artist born in Groot-Zundert, Holland on March 30, 1853. He is the pioneer who paved the way for the expressionist era and had a big influence on twentieth century art. Vincent Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" (1989) has proven to be an outstanding demonstration of how emotions can be conveyed through color and brushstroke. It was one of his most famous art pieces that was created and one of the last major paintings he ever produced in which was the earliest examples of expressionism. The painting was his depiction of his view of his asylum window at Saint-Rémy (he admitted himself for his safety and the safety of those around him). The painting depicts a small town that is against a blue and vast night sky filled with eleven bright stars . Starry Night is a product of Van Gogh’s encounter with his personal religious connections and isolation of which convey van Gogh’s expressionism in creating his unique view of reality.
... The use of strong and bright light in Cubism, for example, points to Post Impressionism's role in influencing and affecting the art movement and its contribution in shaping how art is produced and critiqued based on the standards that it had set. Conclusion History repeats itself, and this is reflected in how Post Impressionism’s similarities with the earlier Impressionism act as proof of the cyclical nature of new things surfacing as a reaction to the old existing conditions. Impressionism and Post Impression gave the world a fine list of painters and an equally excellent collection of masterpieces which, when placed side by side, reveals the similarities of Post Impressionism and Impressionism and reflects the connection and relation of one art movement with the other. Works Cited Collischan, J. & Co., Ltd. (2010).