"... Post-Impressionists extended Impressionism while rejecting its limitations: they continued using vivid colours, thick application of paint, distinctive brush strokes, and real-life subject matter, but they were more inclined to emphasize geometric forms, to distort form for expressive effect, and to use unnatural or arbitrary colour."
An art facet which I think is too often overlooked is that of "motif". Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists used "Real Life" motifs (i.e., "what the painting is about"), sharply in contrast to the idealized "not real" subject matter of established academicism, to see more, go to "Impressionist - Post Impressionist Motifs"
Post-Impressionism Paintings 19th Century
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"Artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin and Georges Seurat, although steeped in the traditions of Impressionism, pushed the boundaries of the style in different creative directions and in doing so laid the foundations for the art of the 20th century."
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Vincent van Gogh (for more, go here...)
................................................
"... it does me good to do what’s difficult. That
doesn’t stop me having a tremendous need for, shall
I say the word – for religion – so I go outside at
night to paint the stars.'"
"... it does me good to do what’s difficult. That
doesn’t stop me having a tremendous need for,
shall I say the word – for religion – so I go
outside at night to paint the stars.'"
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Vincent's Room, Arles
1888; Vincent Van Gogh Foundation, Amsterdam
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Starry Night
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Paul Gauguin
(for more, go here...)Paul Gauguin is another early
"traditional-modern" painter. He maintained a lot of the
impressionist ideas of motif; i.e., art relating to, in the 19th
century , "modern" outlooks on the real world, but with his own
post-impressionist style. "Modern" here is in contrast to
pre-impressionist art, which was so often (but not always) so
banal.
Gauguins art encompassed a wide variety of motif (see thumbnails
below), I am showing here a few of his Tahitian pictures.
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When
will
you
marry?
(Tahitian:
Nafea
faa
ipoipo?) 1892
"... the front figure indulges in dreamy fantasies, the rear
figure is imbued with something rigid and rule-bound. The
front woman stretches herself, her facial features stylized
and simplified. The rear female figure ... face is painted
with individual features and represents the center of the
image. ..."
I sometimes (almost always???) think that art academics get
carried away... To me, as a painter, and with a son and
daughter, this could more basic; there is mom, or aunt, and
daughter; daughter looks like daughter, mom looks like mom,
neither of them really are sure they want to be sitting
there getting painted.
Gauguin apparently was very mercurial, full of ups and
downs, maybe mostly downs. Many of his pictures seem
to reflect Gauguin, in this way; not necessarily those being
painted.
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Two Tahitian Women
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