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Post Impressionism and Art Essay

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Post Impressionism and Art

Modernism is an art movement that is characterized by a deliberate departure from tradition to a more expressive form that distinguishes many styles in the arts and literature of the late nineteenth and twentieth century. Emile Bernard was part of this modern art movement as can be seen in his painting, "Breton Woman and Haystacks", painted around 1888. Impressionists were modern artists who tended to paint outside landscapes and street scenes and were concerned with the effects of light. Bernard was a Post-Impressionist artist who considered Impressionism too casual or too naturalistic, and sought a means of exploring emotion in paint. Bernard's work, "Breton Woman and Haystacks", depicts a woman in …show more content…

He also liked their version of Catholicism because they believed God was noticeable in everyday life. This attraction to the Breton way of life is apparent by the way Bernard paints them. Both the woman and the landscape are drawn simply; the figures do not look realistic but the viewer is able to distinguish what each object is. The simple geometric form of the woman's hat and the shape of the haystacks are very similar in contour, yet both are easily discernable. Likewise, the trees and the clouds are alike in their shape, as well as the curves of the woman's eyes and mouth are similar to the rolling hills behind her. The painting is considered to be abstract because the imagery used in the work departs from representational accuracy. Abstract artists such as Bernard select and then exaggerate or simplify the forms suggested by the world around them. Bernard's rendering of the Breton woman in her simple attire juxtaposed with the countryside communicates his belief that she is nearer to nature and God than contemporary peoples. The stylized delineation of the figures and the vivid colors convey the emotion and imaginative sensibility of the Breton women rather than simply recording what Bernard saw.
The dramatic color Bernard used in "Breton Woman and Haystacks" along with the large areas of open space and bold lines that define structure, volume and texture are all characteristics of the

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