Georges-Pierre Seurat Essay

Impressionism is an artistic style of painting that originated in France in the 1870s. This style of painting attempts to capture an experience or emotion opposed depicting a scene accurately. Every impressionistic painter has a distinct method of rendering as well as their own distinct set of qualities that reflect the artist themselves. For instance, The Basket Chair by Berthe Morisot and The Orange Trees by Gustave Caillebotte are two impressionist works of art of oils on canvas that contrast in many ways. These two paintings will be compared side by side with an in depth approach comparing the artist’s personal status in society, modernism’s role in the piece, and the execution of composition.

the human eye. Visualize having the ability to completely free your imagination, letting your thoughts and desires wander to form exotic scenes or locations. These unfamiliar worlds lay deep inside of the brain as subconscious thoughts, usually undetected by the person with them in his or her possession. With the help of the intriguing art movement known as Surrealism, however, these subconscious thoughts are finally able to be brought to fruition. Surrealism is a unique style of art that originated in France with the help of brilliant writer André Breton (Chilvers 599). He defined surrealism and its principles as a “purely psychic automatism through which we undertake to express, in words, writing, or any other activity, the actual functioning of thought… Surrealism rests upon belief in the higher reality of specific forms of associations, previously neglected, in the omnipotence of dreams, and in the disinterested play of thinking” (Chilvers 599). He also strongly emphasized that its purpose was “to resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality” (Chilvers 599). Surrealism is a 20th century style of painting which rebels against traditional notions of art. In order to understand this genre, it is necessary to examine the movement’s characteristics, representative

Impressionism is a late French 19th century art movement, which was all about the impression of art. The point was to emphasize the artist’s perception of the subject matter as much as the subject itself. More like if you had only just caught a glimpse of it, but could still recognize the subject. It incorporated new scientific research into the physics of color to achieve a more exact representation of color and tone. Someone using this style would apply paint in small touches of pure color rather than in broader strokes. Detail wasn’t something to worry about with this style it even lead to another style of art called pointillism. They were paintings with small dots, which gave them a greater sense of vibrancy when seen from a distance. This would cause a shimmering effect.

In the 19th century, there was an artistic transition from realism to a new form called impressionism. This change originated in France, as the world underwent a transition to industrialization. The impressionist was able to understand how light and color operate hand in hand in a painting. Instead of seeing an image as a whole work, impressionist would see smaller images making up the entire piece. The style was primarily made of the use of intense colors, open composition, light and movement and brush strokes. They were mainly

Impressionism can be considered the first distinctly modern movement in painting. Developing in Paris in the 1860s, its influence spread throughout Europe and eventually the United States. Impressionism was a style of representational art that did not necessarily rely on realistic depictions. The Impressionists loosened their brushwork and lightened their palettes to include pure, intense colors.

Visual opulence, creativity, inimitable vision, and a style that is highly influential are the many characteristics of an admired movement in art history, that being of the Post-Impressionism movement (1875-1892). This movement, which was a by-product of the Impressionism movement, is the bridging gap between the two movements known as Realism and Expressionism. Post-Impressionism takes on some of the stylistic characteristics of these movements; however, it does not contain the all too glossy visuals of Realism or the heavily fantastic visuals of Expressionism, rather it is the intermediary of these two poles. My paper will discuss why this link was absolutely essential to the history of art movements, and I will be specifically using the

“A Sunday on La Grande Jatte”, depicting the accumulation of individuals on the island of the Grande Jatte, was painted by Georges Seurat from 1884 to 1886. To create this painting, Seurat utilized multiple pure pigments, a canvas, and a technique called Pointillism. Pointillism is a technique of applying dots of pure paint on canvas.

Kandinsky’s use of line, shape, and color really put the painting to a different level of abstraction. The bright colors, even when shadowed, show an extensive amount of expression and power. Improvisation 28 (second version) is full of a mixture of primary, secondary, warm, and cool colors. Kandinsky uses reds, oranges, yellows, blues, and greens in his painting; causing some brown and black to form from the mixture of colors. The bright, warm colors make the painting stand out and catch the eye at first glance. On the other hand, the darker, cool colors balance the painting out and add a variety of colors throughout Kandinsky’s painting.

Impressionism is an art movement initiated in France (Paris) in 19th century. The name of this art movement was taken from a French artist’s name called Claude Monet, who painted his artwork (impression, sunrise). Impressionism art movement combined a group of prominent French artists, who their exhibitions became more important through 1870 – 1880s, despite the opposition from the classical art community in France. Claude Monet’s painting was provoked by the Critic Louis Leroy.

The impressionist movement was a leap away from traditional art and a innovative style that would capture the hearts of many. Although, the elimination on detail and lines would be seen as blasphemous to true art to some. The new style of using light ground and working up with dark colors would breed some brilliant work. For instance, Vincent Van Gogh's painting entitled, "Starry Night" makes you really just want to sit and marvel in its beauty. Van Gogh's paintings seemed to be painted in quick passionate and precise strokes which effortlessly create unique and breathtaking pieces of art. Although, they were painted in passion I was blown away when I heard of the amount of detail and sketching that went into a lot of Van Gogh's work. I appreciate

Later in mid-1880s, Seurat formed a new artistic style of painting which is known as pointillism or Divisionism. Since, the colors were blended with other colors on the palette and kept them side by side to compare the likeliness of those colors blending together. This would be followed by viewing those colors from a distance provided the idea of optical mixing, meaning the colors would look like some other color when mixed and viewed from a distance. After discovering this technique, he painted not only the subjects of everyday life but instead he, and his colleagues often painted the nightclubs, parks and the landscapes of the Paris

The colors are delightfully illuminated and noticeable in background and foreground. There are two styles of color within the timeline of the film. During the scenes set in the 1930’s, the colors

form of artistic expression. Within painting, other techniques such as frottage and decalcomania were also explored.

What is pointillism? Pointillism is a form of painting what requires the painter to use only dots or small points to form a bigger picture. It usually took artists several months or even years to finish just one of their pointillism paintings. One famous pointillism painter was Georges Seurat, he created a masterpiece called Sunday Afternoon on la Grand Jatte. Pointillism has changed how people look at art and how it’s made.

Impressionism as an historical art period is best described as a shift in thinking and focus. This paradigm shift, away from realism and toward individualism, began a centuries long transformation of self-expression in art as a whole. Impressionism is generally considered a French movement and is typically defined as spanning from approximately 1867 to 1886. Impressionism is best embodied by and was perhaps initiated by Claud Monet in such world-renowned works as Impressions: soleil levant which lent its name to the style and subsequently the art period as a whole.