Impressionism / themes:
Seasons
Starting page
with links to seperate pages
Introduction:
Typical for the impressionist painting style is to render the influence of seasonal light on the colours in the landscape. The depicted season is often mentioned in the title of the painting. Namely Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley and Victor Vignon did so. The Pre-Impressionists and some other artists did so too, so in this sense it wasn’t unique.
You will (in the future) also be linked to seperate pages, where impressionist works will be compared with pre-impressionist, neo-impressionist and post-impressionist paintings. At the bottom of this page you will also find examples of series of seasons.
Spring (le printemps):
The Impressionists depicted the (tree) blossoms in spring and the fresh green of the grass and the leaves, like in these paintings of Victor Vignon and of Alfred Sisley.
Summer (L’été):
The Impressionists depicted the bright sunlight in the summer, with it’s shades. In the early summer the colours are still fresh and bright, like we see with Claude Monet. Weeks later the dryness of summer changes the colours, like we see with Victor Vignon.
Autumn / Fall (l’automne):
In the early fall we see some trees still green and other trees turn orange / red, like in the painting of Claude Monet. Weeks later some trees stand bare and other turn orange / brown, like in the painting of Alfred Sisley.
Winter (l’hiver):
A cloudy winterday does produce greyish and subdued colours (not typical impressionist), like in the painting of Ferdinand Attendu. The bright sun produces orange hues and bluish shadows on the snow, like in the painting of Mary Fairchild-MacMonnies. She was a pupil of Claude Monet, who than lived in Giverny and is part of a second generation Impressionists, who clearly used an impressionist painting style.
A serie of seasons:
Some artists depicted the seasons in a serie, namely Camille Pissarro did around 1872.
A serie of (symbolic) seasons:
Some artists depicted the seasons in an symbolic way, mostly depicting women. Artists that did so were Berthe Morisot, Edouard Manet and Bouguereau. For the last one it just seems to be an excuse to render (half naked) well formed young women. In these paintings the effect of seasonal light on the colours is hardly rendered, so in this way they are not in an impressionist painting style. They more render an idea of a season depicted within a figure painting. It is interesting to investigate the similarities of these paintings with the ideas within symbolist art-movements.
Sources:
My main sources are .
See links for other general references (=R), internet sites (=iR) and musea (=M). For other additional references (=aR) see below. See links for practical hints and abbreviations and for the subscription of the paintings.
Further readings:
x
Additional references (=aRx):
- x
Recommanded citation: Impressionism / themes: seasons; starting page. Last modified 2025/02/18. https://www.impressionism.nl/seasons/”
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