Impressionism: a historical reconstruction
Impressionism:
a painting style
Introduction:
Impressionism can be seen as a painting style. Were the impressionists impressionists? Did the artist paint in an impressionist painting-style? For an affirmatieve answer the most of the following questions have to be answered with yes.
Impressionism can also be seen as an art-movement. See the link for selective questions if the artist was part of the impressionist art-movement.
Selective questions:
- Did the artist use bright colours?
- Is there use of bright colours instead of brownish, greyish and sub-dued tones?
- Is there emphasis on colour, instead on line?
- Is there use of blues and violets instead of blacks for the shade parts?
- Does the artist render bright colours which are perceivable in nature, but by emphasizing he makes them slightly unnatural? Such as oranges provoked by a setting sun, pinks in the twilight sky, lilacs in the sand.
- Did the artist use a vivid brush stroke?
- Is the brushstroke visibel and lively?
- Is there use of juxtaposed brushstrokes?
- Does this brushstroke make the colours vibrate?
- Does the artist give an indication of time of day, season or weather?
As well in the title as in the painting itself?- Is there an indication of time?
For example: sunrise; morning; midday; clear day; twilight / dusk; sunset; moonlight. - Is there an indication of season?
For example: Effect of snow; autumn; springtime; end of the summer; the midst of June. - Is there an indication of weather conditions?
For example: rough; stormy; calm; clear; grey weather; gust of wind; melting snow; frost effect; effect of sunlight; effect of rain; fog.
- Is there an indication of time?
- Does the artist try to render the ever changing moment?
Especially the influence of (sun)light on the colours of the painted subject?- Does the artist render the moment by a sketch-like way of painting, with a ‘lack of finish’?
- Does the artist render the leaves-filtered-sunlight?
- Are persons cut off at the edge of the painting as if they were seen in a glimpse
(instead of carefully being composed in the middle of the painting) - Is it a subjectieve rendering of a personal impression?
(instead of a photographic rendering of the objective reality)
(still the object is central and not the personal mood, ideas or symbolic meaning) - Does the artist paint in series to show the influence of sunlight on the colours of the repeated subject?
- Does the artist give an indication of place?
As well in the title as in the painting itself?- Does it indicate painting outdoors (en-plein-air) in stead of painting an idealized landscape or a historical, mythological, biblical or patriotic scene?
- Is there a global indication of place?
For example: At Pontoise; the Seine at Bougival - Is there a more detailed indication of place?
For example: Honfleur, Rue de la Bavolle; The railway bridge at Argenteuil; Étretat, the rock needle seen through the Port d’Aval (which can make it able to locate for example on Google-maps).
- Does the artist make impressionist portraits?
- Does the model blend with the background?
- Is the model caught in the moment not aware of being painted?
- Did the artist paint what he saw?
- The landscape as it is?
- Every day life in the city
(In this the Impressionists differed from the Barbizon-painters, R59, p209)- as well the harsh realism of life
(which in fact is a more realist component) - as the leisure of the new bourgeois
For example: sailing; café’s; restaurants; ballet; the opera; theaters.
- as well the harsh realism of life
Postscript:
It’s not good to put a painter in a box by putting a label on him, for example: ‘Renoir is an impressionist’. It denies the uniqueness and the development of the painter. Still it’s good to see certain similarities and to discover a sort of movement or school. Maybe it’s good to see it this way: Like a cook, a painter uses certain ingredients. And as you can say that by using certain ingredients something is Italian food, so we could say that the more a painter uses the ‘ingredients’ as mentioned above, the more he was painting in an impressionist style.
Recommanded citation: “Impressionism, a painting style”. Last modified 2021/08/20. https://www.impressionism.nl/impressionism-a-painting-style/.