What are the main semantic meanings of the term impressionism. Emergence of Impressionism
Impressionism(fr. impressionnisme, from impression - impression) - the direction in the art of the latter thirds of XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, which originated in France and then spread throughout the world, whose representatives sought to most naturally capture real world in its mobility and variability, to convey their fleeting impressions.
1. Liberation from the traditions of realism (no mythological, biblical and historical paintings, only modern life).
2. Observation and study of the surrounding reality. Not what he sees, but how he sees from the position of the perceived "visual essence of things"
3. Daily life of a modern city. Psychology of the city dweller. The dynamics of life. The pace, the rhythm of life.
4. "Effect of a stretched moment"
5. Search for new forms. Small sizes of works (etudes, framing). Not typical, but random.
6. Serialization of paintings (Monet's "Hacks")
7. Novelty picturesque system. Open pure color. Relief, the richest collection of reflexes, quivering.
8. Mixing genres.
Edouard Manet - innovator. From deaf dense tones to light painting. Fragmentation of compositions.
"Olympia"- relies on Titian, Giorgione, Goya. Posed by Victoria Muran. Venus is depicted as a modern cocotte. At the feet of a black cat. A black woman presents a bouquet. The background is a dark, warm tone of the woman's body like a pearl on blue sheets. The volume is broken. There is no black and white modeling.
"Breakfast on the Grass"- model and two artists + landscape + still life. Black frock coats form a contrast with the naked body.
"Flutist"- the impression of the music.
"Bar Folies-Bergere" - the girl is a bartender. The thrill of a peeped moment. The loneliness of a bustling city. The illusion of happiness. I put it in the whole canvas (inaccessible in my thoughts, but accessible to bar customers). A full hall of visitors is an image of the world.
Claude Monet - abandoned the traditional sequence (undercoating, glazing, etc.) - ala prima
"Impression. Rising Sun" - Fieria yellow, orange, green. The boat is a visual accent. Elusive, unfinished landscape, no contours. Variability of the light-air environment. Rays of light change vision.
"Breakfast on the Grass" - edge of the forest, picnic experience , dark green gamma interspersed with brown and black. The leaves are wet. The woman's clothes and the tablecloth are illuminated, filled with air, light through the foliage.
Boulevard des Capucines in Paris fragmentary. Cuts off two people who are looking at the boulevard from the balcony. The crowd of people is the life of the city. Half in light from the setting sun and half in shadow from the building. No visual center, instant impression.
"Rocks in Belle-Ile"- the moving mass of water dominates (thick strokes). Iridescent shades vigorously applied. Rocks are reflected in the water, and water is reflected in the rocks. Feeling the power of the elements, boiling green-blue water. High horizon composition.
"Gare Saint-Lazare" - the interior of the station is shown, but the steam locomotive and the steam that is everywhere are more interesting (fascination with fog, lilac haze).
Pierre Auguste Renoir- an artist of joy, known primarily as a master of a secular portrait, not devoid of sentimentality.
"Swing"- imbued with warm colors, youth is shown, the girl is impressed.
"Ball at the Moulin de la Gallette" - genre scene. Day. Young people, students, shop assistants, etc. At tables under acacia trees, a dance floor. Light streams ( sunbeams on the backs).
"Portrait of Jeanne Samary" - flower women. Charming, feminine, graceful, touching, direct actress. Deep eyes, a slight sunny smile.
"Portrait of Madame Charpentier with children"- an elegant secular woman in a black dress with a train and two girls in blue. Tapestry table, dog, parquet - everything speaks of the wealth of the family.
Edgar Degas- did not write in the open air, the cult of line and drawing. Compositions diagonally (from bottom to top)); S-shaped, spiral shapes + a window from which lighting + lighting from spotlights. Oil, then bed.
"Ballet Girls", "Dancers"- invades the lives of ballerinas. Strokes connect drawing and painting. Constant pace of training.
"Blue Dancers"- no individuality - a single wreath of bodies. In one corner there is still light from the ramps, and in the other the shadow of the wings. The moment is still actresses and ordinary people. Expressive silhouettes, cornflower blue dresses. Fragmentation - the characters do not look at the viewer.
"Apsent" - man and woman are sitting in a cafe. Ash gamma. A man with a pipe looks in one direction, and a drunken woman with a detached look - aching loneliness.
Camille Pissarro - fond of landscapes, including people, carts in them. The motive of the road with walking. Loved spring and autumn.
"Entrance to the village of Voisin» - a dim, soft landscape, trees along the road - frame the entrance, their branches mix, dissolving in the sky. Slowly, calmly, the horse walks. Home is not easy architectural objects, and dwellings for people (warm nests).
« Opera passage in Paris"(series) - a gray cloudy day. The roofs are slightly powdered with snow, the pavement is wet, the buildings are drowning in a veil of snow, passers-by with umbrellas turn into shadows. The color of humid air envelops. Lilac-blue, olive tones. Small strokes.
Alfred Sisley- sought to notice the beauty of nature, the epic tranquility inherent in the rural landscape.
"Frost in Louveciennes" - morning, fresh state, objects are bathed in light (fusion). No shadows (fine nuances), yellow-orange colors. Quiet corner, not a hurried city. The feeling of purity, fragility, love for this place
Impressionism in Russia. develops at a later time and at an accelerated pace than in France
V.A.Serov - indifferent to academic drawing wants to show the beauty of nature in color.
"Girl with peaches"- a portrait of Verochka Mamontova. Everything is natural and unconstrained, every detail is connected with one another. The beauty of a girl's face, poetry lifestyle, light-saturated colorful painting. The charm and freshness of the study, organically combined two trends, two forces that formed a single form of pictorial vision. Everything seems so simple and natural, but there is so much depth and wholeness in this simplicity!! With the utmost expressiveness, V. Serov conveyed the light pouring in a silvery stream from the window and filling the room. The girl is sitting at the table and is not busy with anything, as if she really sat down for a moment, automatically picked up a peach and holds it, looking at you simply and frankly. But this peace is only momentary, and a passion for frisky movement peeps through it.
"Children"- shows spiritual world children (sons). The elder is looking at the sunset, and the younger is facing the viewer. A different outlook on life.
"Mika Morozov"- sits in a chair, but rolls down on the viewer. Childish excitement is conveyed.
"Chorus Girl"- etude. He paints with juicy strokes of the brush, wide strokes in the foliage, strokes either vertical or horizontal and different in texture ⇒ dynamism, air and light. The combination of nature and girls, freshness, immediacy.
"Paris. Boulevard des Capucines" - colorful kaleidoscope of colors. Artificial lighting - entertainment, decorative theatricality.
I.E. Grabar - volitional, emotional beginning.
« February azure»- I saw a birch from ground level and was shocked. The chimes of the rainbow are united by the azure of the sky. The birch is monumental (in the whole canvas).
"March Snow"- the girl carries buckets on the yoke, the shadow of the tree on the melted snow.
Impressionism opened a new art - it is important how the artist sees, new forms and ways of presenting. They have a moment, we have a stretch in time; we have less dynamics, more romanticism.
Mane Breakfast on the grass Mane Olympia
Manet "Bar Folies-Bergere" Mane Flutist"
Monet "Impression. Rising Sun Monet "Breakfast on the Grass" - "Boulevard des Capucines in Paris"
Monet "Rocks in Belle-Ile"» Monet Gare Saint-Lazare
Monet Boulevard des Capucines in ParisRenoir"Swing"
Renoir "Ball at the Moulin de la Gallette" Renoir "Portrait of Jeanne Samary"
Renoir "Portrait of Madame Charpentier with Children"
Degas "Blue Dancers" Degas "Apsent"
Pissarro -"Opera Passage in Paris"(series) Pissarro "Entrance to the village of Voisin»
Sisley "Frost in Louveciennes" Serov "Girl with Peaches"
Serov "Children" Serov "Mika Morozov"
Korovin "Chorus Girl" Korovin "Paris. Boulevard of the Capucines»
Grabar "February azure" Grabar "March snow"
By the mid-1880s, impressionism gradually ceased to exist as a single direction, and disintegrated, giving a noticeable impetus to the evolution of art. By the beginning of the 20th century, the trend of abandoning realism gained momentum and a new generation of artists turned away from impressionism.
The emergence of the name
The first important exhibition of the Impressionists was held from April 15 to May 15, 1874 in the studio of the photographer Nadar. There were presented 30 artists, 165 works in total. Canvas Monet - “Impression. Rising Sun " ( Impression, soleil levant), now in the Musée Marmottin, Paris, written in 1872, gave birth to the term "Impressionism": the little-known journalist Louis Leroy, in his article in the magazine Le Charivari, called the group "Impressionists" to express his disdain. Artists, out of challenge, adopted this epithet, later it took root, lost its original negative meaning and came into active use.
The name "Impressionism" is rather meaningless, in contrast to the name "Barbizon School", where at least there is an indication of the geographical location of the artistic group. There is even less clarity with some artists who were not formally included in the circle of the first impressionists, although they technique and the means are completely “impressionistic”, - Whistler, Edouard Manet, Eugene Boudin, etc. In addition, the technical means of the Impressionists were known long before the 19th century and they were (partially, limitedly) used by Titian and Velasquez, without breaking with the dominant ideas of his era.
There was another article (authored by Emile Cardon) and another title - "Rebel Exhibition", absolutely disapproving and condemning. It was it that accurately reproduced the disapproving attitude of the bourgeois public and criticism towards the artists (Impressionists), which dominated for years. The Impressionists were immediately accused of immorality, rebellious moods, failure to be respectable. IN currently this is surprising, because it is not clear what is immoral in the landscapes of Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, the everyday scenes of Edgar Degas, the still lifes of Monet and Renoir.
Decades have passed. And a new generation of artists will come to a real collapse of forms and impoverishment of content. Then both the critics and the public saw in the condemned Impressionists - realists, and a little later, the classics of French art.
The specificity of the philosophy of impressionism
French impressionism did not raise philosophical problems and did not even try to penetrate colored surface everyday life. Instead, impressionism focuses on the superficiality, the fluidity of the moment, the mood, the lighting, or the angle of view.
Like the art of the Renaissance (Renaissance), impressionism is built on the features and skills of perceiving perspective. At the same time, the Renaissance vision explodes with proven subjectivity and relativity. human perception, which makes color and shape autonomous components of the image. For impressionism, it is not so important what is shown in the figure, but how it is shown is important.
Impressionist paintings do not carry social criticism, do not affect social problems, such as hunger, disease, death, representing only the positive aspects of life. This later led to a split among the Impressionists themselves.
Impressionism and society
Impressionism is characterized by democracy. By inertia, art was considered the monopoly of aristocrats even in the 19th century, higher strata population. It was they who acted as the main customers for murals, monuments, it was they who were the main buyers of paintings and sculptures. Plots from hard work peasants, the tragic pages of our time, the shameful side of wars, poverty, social turmoil were condemned, not approved, not bought. Criticism of the blasphemous morality of society in the paintings of Theodore Géricault, Francois Millet found a response only from supporters of artists and a few experts.
The Impressionists in this matter occupied quite compromise, intermediate positions. Biblical, literary, mythological, historical plots inherent in official academicism were discarded. On the other hand, they ardently desired recognition, respect, even awards. Indicative is the activity of Edouard Manet, who for years sought recognition and awards from the official Salon and its administration.
Instead, a vision of everyday life and modernity appeared. Artists often painted people in motion, during fun or relaxation, imagined a view of a certain place in a certain light, nature was also the motive of their work. They took subjects of flirting, dancing, staying in cafes and theaters, boat trips, on beaches and in gardens. Judging by the paintings of the Impressionists, life is a series of small holidays, parties, pleasant pastimes outside the city or in a friendly environment (a number of paintings by Renoir, Manet and Claude Monet). The Impressionists were among the first to paint in the air, without finalizing their work in the studio.
Technique
The new trend differed from academic painting both technically and ideologically. First of all, the Impressionists abandoned the contour, replacing it with small separate and contrasting strokes, which they applied in accordance with the color theories of Chevreul, Helmholtz and Rude. The sunbeam splits into its components: violet, blue, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, but since blue is a variety of blue, their number is reduced to six. Two colors placed side by side reinforce each other and, conversely, when mixed, they lose their intensity. In addition, all colors are divided into primary, or primary, and dual, or derivatives, with each dual paint being additional to the first:
- Blue - Orange
- Red Green
- Yellow - Purple
Thus it became possible not to mix colors on the palette and get desired color by properly overlaying them on the canvas. This later became the reason for the rejection of black.
Then the Impressionists stopped concentrating all the work on the canvases in the workshops, now they prefer the open air, where it is more convenient to grab a fleeting impression of what they saw, which became possible thanks to the invention of steel tubes for paint, which, unlike leather bags, could be closed so that the paint did not dry out.
Also, the artists used opaque paints that do not transmit light well and are unsuitable for mixing because they quickly turn gray, this allowed them to create paintings not with " internal", A " external» light reflecting off the surface.
Technical differences contributed to the achievement of other goals, first of all, the Impressionists tried to capture a fleeting impression, the smallest changes in each subject depending on the lighting and time of day, the highest embodiment was Monet's cycles of paintings "Haystacks", "Rouen Cathedral" and "Parliament of London".
In general, many masters worked in the style of impressionism, but the basis of the movement was Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro, Frederic Basil and Berthe Morisot. However, Manet always called himself an "independent artist" and never participated in exhibitions, and although Degas participated, he never painted his works en plein air.
Timeline by artists
Impressionists
Exhibitions
- First exhibition(April 15 - May 15)
Address: Boulevard Capuchinok, 35 (studio of the photographer Nadar). Members: Astruc, Attendu, Beliar, Bracquemont, Brandon, Boudin, Bureau, Guillaumin, Debra, Degas, Kals, Colin, La Touche, Lever, Lepic, Lepin, Meyer, de Molin, Monet, Morisot, Mulot-Durivage, Giuseppe De Nittis , A. Otten, L. Otten,
For me, the style of impressionism is, first of all, something airy, ephemeral, inexorably slipping away. This is that amazing moment that the eye barely manages to fix and which then remains in the memory for a long time as a moment of the highest harmony. The masters of impressionism were famous for their ability to easily transfer this moment of beauty to the canvas, endowing it with tangible sensations and subtle vibrations that arise with all reality when interacting with the picture. When you look at work outstanding artists this style always leaves a certain aftertaste of mood.
Impressionism(from impression - impression) is an art movement that originated in France in the late 1860s. Its representatives strove to capture the real world in its mobility and variability in the most natural and unbiased way, to convey their fleeting impressions. Particular attention was paid to the transfer of color and light. 
The word "impressionism" comes from the name of Monet's painting Impression. Sunrise, presented at the 1874 exhibition. The little-known journalist Louis Leroy, in his magazine article, called the artists "Impressionists" to express his disdain. However, the name stuck and lost its original negative meaning. 
The first important exhibition of the Impressionists took place from 15 April to 15 May 1874 in the studio of the photographer Nadar. There were presented 30 artists, in total - 165 works. Young artists were reproached for the "incompleteness" and "sloppiness of painting", the lack of taste and meaning in their work, "an attempt on true art", rebellious moods and even immorality. 
The leading representatives of impressionism are Alfred Sisley and Frederic Basil. Together with them, Edouard Manet and exhibited their paintings. Joaquin Sorolla is also considered an Impressionist. 
Landscapes and scenes from urban life - perhaps the most characteristic genres impressionistic painting - were written "in the open air", i.e. directly from life, and not on the basis of sketches and preparatory sketches. The Impressionists peered intently at nature, noticing colors and shades that are usually invisible, such as blue in the shadows. 
Their artistic method consisted in the decomposition of complex tones into their constituent pure colors of the spectrum. Colored shadows and pure light quivering painting were obtained. The Impressionists applied paint in separate strokes, sometimes using contrasting tones in one area of the picture. The main feature of Impressionist paintings is the effect of lively flickering of colors. 
To convey the changes in the color of the subject, the Impressionists began to prefer to use colors that mutually reinforce each other: red and green, yellow and purple, orange and blue. The same colors create the effect consistent contrast. For example, if we look at red for a while, and then look at white, it will seem greenish to us. 
Impressionism did not raise philosophical problems and did not even try to penetrate the colored surface of everyday life. Instead, artists focus on superficiality, fluidity of the moment, mood, lighting, or angle of view. Their paintings represented only the positive aspects of life, without touching on acute social problems. 
Artists often painted people in motion, while having fun or relaxing. They took subjects of flirting, dancing, staying in cafes and theaters, boat trips, on beaches and in gardens. Judging by the paintings of the Impressionists, life is a continuous series of small holidays, parties, pleasant pastimes outside the city or in a friendly environment. 
Impressionism left a rich legacy in painting. First of all, this is an interest in color problems and non-standard techniques. Impressionism expressed the desire for renewal artistic language and a break with tradition, as a protest against the painstaking technique of the masters of the classical school. Well, we can now admire these magnificent works of outstanding artists. 
Impressionism is a trend in art that arose in the second half of the 19th century. His main goal was the transmission of fleeting, changeable impressions.
The emergence of impressionism is associated with science: with the latest discoveries of optics and color theory.
This direction affected almost all types of art, but it manifested itself most clearly in painting, where the transfer of color and light was the basis of the work of impressionist artists.
Term meaning
Impressionism(fr. Impressionnisme) from impression - impression). This style of painting appeared in France in the late 1860s. He was represented by Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot, Alfred Sisley, Jean Frederic Bazille. But the term itself appeared in 1874, when Monet's painting “Impression. Rising Sun» (1872). In the title of the painting, Monet meant that he conveys only his fleeting impression of the landscape.
C. Monet “Impression. Sunrise" (1872). Marmottan Monet Museum, Paris
Later, the term "impressionism" in painting began to be understood more broadly: a careful study of nature in terms of color and lighting. The goal of the Impressionists was to depict instantaneous, as it were, “random” situations and movements. To do this, they used various techniques: complex angles, asymmetry, fragmentation of compositions. The picture of the Impressionist artists becomes, as it were, a frozen moment of a constantly changing world.
The artistic method of the Impressionists
Most popular genres Impressionists - landscapes and scenes from urban life. They were always written "in the open air", i.e. directly from nature, in nature, without sketches and preliminary sketches. The Impressionists noticed and were able to convey on canvas colors and shades that are usually invisible. with a simple eye and an inattentive spectator. For example, rendering blue in shadows or pink at sunset. They decomposed complex tones into their constituent pure colors of the spectrum. From this, their painting turned out to be light and quivering. Impressionist painters applied paint in separate strokes, in a free and even careless manner, so their paintings are best viewed from a distance - it is with this look that the effect of a lively flickering of colors is created.
The Impressionists abandoned the contour, replacing it with small separate and contrasting strokes.
K. Pissarro, A. Sisley and C. Monet preferred landscapes and urban scenes. O. Renoir liked to depict people in the bosom of nature or in the interior. French Impressionism did not raise philosophical and social issues. They did not turn to biblical, literary, mythological, historical subjects that were inherent in official academism. Instead, on paintings an image of everyday life and modernity appeared; the image of people in motion, while relaxing or having fun. Their main subjects are flirting, dancing, people in cafes and theaters, boat trips, beaches and gardens.
The Impressionists tried to catch a fleeting impression, the smallest changes in each subject, depending on the lighting and time of day. In this plan highest achievement you can count the cycles of paintings by Monet "Haystacks", "Rouen Cathedral" and "Parliament of London".
C. Monet "Cathedral in Rouen in the sun" (1894). Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France
"Rouen Cathedral" is a series of 30 paintings by Claude Monet, which represent views of the cathedral depending on the time of day, year and lighting. This cycle was written by the artist in the 1890s. The cathedral allowed him to show the relationship between the constant, solid structure of the building and the changing, easily playful light that changes our perception. Monet concentrates on individual fragments of the Gothic cathedral and chooses the portal, the tower of St. Martin and the tower of Albane. He is only interested in the play of light on stone.
C. Monet "Rouen Cathedral, West Portal, Foggy Weather" (1892). Musee d'Orsay, Paris
C. Monet “Rouen Cathedral, portal and tower, morning effect; white harmony" (1892-1893). Musee d'Orsay, Paris
C. Monet "Rouen Cathedral, portal and tower in the sun, harmony of blue and gold" (1892-1893). Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Following France, impressionist artists appeared in England and the USA (James Whistler), in Germany (Max Lieberman, Lovis Corinth), in Spain (Joaquin Sorolla), in Russia (Konstantin Korovin, Valentin Serov, Igor Grabar).
About the work of some impressionist artists
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Claude Monet, photograph 1899
French painter, one of the founders of impressionism. Born in Paris. He was fond of drawing since childhood, at the age of 15 he proved to be a talented cartoonist. TO landscape painting he was introduced by Eugene Boudin, a French artist, the forerunner of impressionism. Monet later entered the university at the Faculty of Arts, but became disillusioned and left him, enrolling in the painting studio of Charles Gleyre. In the studio, he met the artists Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Frédéric Bazille. They were practically peers, held similar views on art, and soon formed the backbone of the Impressionist group.
Monet's fame was brought by the portrait of Camille Donsier, written in 1866 ("Camille, or a portrait of a lady in a green dress"). Camilla in 1870 became the artist's wife.
C. Monet "Camilla" ("The Lady in Green") (1866). Kunsthalle, Bremen
C. Monet "Walk: Camille Monet with her son Jean (Woman with an umbrella)" (1875). National Gallery of Art, Washington
In 1912, doctors diagnosed K. Monet with a double cataract, he had to undergo two operations. Having lost the lens in his left eye, Monet regained his sight, but began to see ultraviolet as blue or purple color, which is why his paintings have acquired new colors. For example, when painting the famous "Water Lilies", Monet saw lilies bluish in the ultraviolet range, for other people they were just white.
C. Monet "Water Lilies"
The artist died on December 5, 1926 in Giverny and was buried in the local church cemetery.
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
C. Pissarro "Self-portrait" (1873)
French painter, one of the first and most consistent representatives of impressionism.
Born on the island of St. Thomas (West Indies), in a bourgeois family of a Sephardic Jew and a native of the Dominican Republic. Until the age of 12 he lived in the West Indies, at the age of 25 he moved to Paris with his whole family. Here he studied at the School of Fine Arts and at the Academy of Suisse. His teachers were Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet and Charles-Francois Daubigny. Started from rural scenery and views of Paris. Pissarro rendered strong influence on the Impressionists, independently developing many of the principles that formed the basis of their style of painting. He was friends with the artists Degas, Cezanne and Gauguin. Pizarro was sole member all 8 Impressionist exhibitions.
He died in 1903 in Paris. He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.
Already in early work artist Special attention devoted to the image of illuminated objects in the air. Light and air have since become the leading theme in the work of Pissarro.
C. Pissarro “Boulevard Montmartre. Afternoon, sunny" (1897)
in 1890, Pizarro became interested in the technique of pointillism (separate application of strokes). But after a while he returned to his usual manner.
In the last years of his life, Camille Pissarro's eyesight deteriorated noticeably. But he continued to work and created a series of views of Paris, filled with artistic emotions.
K. Pissarro "Street in Rouen"
The unusual angle of some of his paintings is explained by the fact that the artist painted them from hotel rooms. This series was one of the highest achievements of Impressionism in the transfer of light and atmospheric effects.
Pissarro also painted in watercolor and created a series of etchings and lithographs.
Here are some of his interesting statements about the art of impressionism: "The Impressionists are on the right track, their art is healthy, it is based on sensations and it is honest."
"Happy is he who can see the beauty in ordinary things where others can't see!"
C. Pissarro "The First Frost" (1873)
Russian impressionism
Russian impressionism developed from the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. It was influenced by the work of the French Impressionists. But Russian impressionism has a pronounced national specificity and in many respects does not coincide with the textbook ideas about classical French impressionism. Objectivity and materiality predominate in the painting of the Russian Impressionists. It has a greater load of meaning and less dynamization. Russian impressionism is closer than French impressionism to realism. french impressionists emphasized the impression of what they saw, and the Russians added a display internal state artist. The work was to be completed in one session.
Some incompleteness of Russian Impressionism creates the "awe of life" that was characteristic of them.
Impressionism includes the work of Russian artists: A. Arkhipov, I. Grabar, K. Korovin, F. Malyavin, N. Meshcherin, A. Murashko, V. Serov, A. Rylov and others.
V. Serov "Girl with peaches" (1887)
This picture is considered the standard of Russian impressionism in the portrait.
Valentin Serov "Girl with Peaches" (1887). Canvas, oil. 91×85 cm State Tretyakov Gallery
The picture was painted in the estate of Savva Ivanovich Mamontov in Abramtsevo, which he acquired from the daughter of the writer Sergei Aksakov in 1870. The portrait depicts 12-year-old Vera Mamontova. The girl is drawn sitting at the table; she is wearing a pink blouse with a dark blue bow; on the table is a knife, peaches and leaves.
“All I wanted was freshness, that special freshness that you always feel in nature and you don’t see in pictures. I wrote for more than a month and exhausted her, poor thing, to death, I really wanted to preserve the freshness of painting with complete completeness - that's how the old masters ”(V. Serov).
Impressionism in other art forms
In literature
In literature, impressionism as a separate trend did not take shape, but its features were reflected in naturalism And symbolism .
Edmond and Jules Goncourt. Photo
Principles naturalism can be traced in the novels of the Goncourt brothers and George Eliot. But the term "naturalism" was first used to refer to own creativity Emile Zola. The writers Guy de Maupassant, Alphonse Daudet, Huysmans and Paul Alexis were grouped around Zola. After the publication of the collection Medan Evenings (1880) with frank stories about the disasters of the Franco-Prussian war (including Maupassant's story "Dumpling"), the name of the "Medan group" was assigned to them.
Emile Zola
The naturalistic principle in literature has often been criticized for its lack of artistry. For example, I. S. Turgenev wrote about one of Zola's novels that "there is a lot of digging in chamber pots." Gustave Flaubert was also critical of naturalism.
Zola maintained friendly relations with many impressionist painters.
Symbolists used symbols, understatement, hints, mystery, mystery. The main mood captured by the symbolists was pessimism, reaching to despair. Everything “natural” seemed to be only “appearance”, which had no independent artistic value.
Thus, impressionism in literature was expressed by the author's private impression, the rejection of an objective picture of reality, the image of every moment. In fact, this led to the absence of plot and history, the replacement of thought with perception, and reason with instinct.
G. Courbet "Portrait of P. Verlaine" (circa 1866)
A striking example of poetic impressionism is Paul Verlaine's collection Romances Without Words (1874). In Russia, the influence of impressionism was experienced by Konstantin Balmont and Innokenty Annensky.
V. Serov "Portrait of K. Balmont" (1905)
Innokenty Annensky. Photo
These sentiments also affected dramaturgy. In the plays there is a passive perception of the world, analysis of moods, mental states. Dialogues concentrate fleeting disparate impressions. These features are characteristic of the work of Arthur Schnitzler.
In music
Musical impressionism developed in France in the last quarter XIX V. - the beginning of the XX century. It was most clearly expressed in the works of Eric Satie, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.
Eric Satie
Musical impressionism is close to impressionism in French painting. They have not only common roots, but also cause-and-effect relationships. Impressionist composers sought and found not only analogies, but also expressive means in the works of Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Puvis de Chavannes and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Of course, the means of painting and the means musical art can be connected with each other only with the help of special, subtle associative parallels that exist only in consciousness. If you look at the vague image of Paris "in the autumn rain" and the same sounds, "muffled by the noise of falling drops", then here you can only talk about the property of the artistic image, but not the real image.
Claude Debussy
Debussy writes "Clouds", "Prints" (the most figurative of which, a watercolor sound sketch - "Gardens in the rain"), "Images", "Reflections on the water", which evoke direct associations with famous painting Claude Monet Impression: Sunrise. According to Mallarmé, the Impressionist composers learned to “hear the light”, to convey in sounds the movement of water, the vibration of leaves, the breath of wind and the refraction of sunlight in the evening air.
Maurice Ravel
M. Ravel has direct connections between painting and music in his sound-pictorial "The Game of Water", the cycle of pieces "Reflections", the piano collection "Rustle of the Night".
The Impressionists created works of refined art and at the same time clear in expressive means, emotionally restrained, conflict-free and strict in style.
In sculpture
O. Rodin "The Kiss"
Impressionism in sculpture was expressed in the free plasticity of soft forms, which creates difficult game light on the surface of the material and a feeling of incompleteness. In the poses of the sculptural characters, the moment of movement and development is captured.
O. Rodin. Photograph 1891
This direction includes the sculptural works of O. Rodin (France), Medardo Rosso (Italy), P.P. Trubetskoy (Russia).
V. Serov "Portrait of Paolo Trubetskoy"
Pavel (Paolo) Trubetskoy(1866-1938) - sculptor and artist, worked in Italy, USA, England, Russia and France. Born in Italy. Illegitimate son Russian emigrant, Prince Pyotr Petrovich Trubetskoy.
Since childhood, I have been sculpting and painting on my own. He had no education. In the initial period of his work, he created portrait busts, works of small plastic arts, and participated in competitions for the creation of large sculptures.
P. Trubetskoy "Monument to Alexander III", St. Petersburg
The first exhibition of Paolo Trubetskoy's works took place in the USA in 1886. In 1899 the sculptor came to Russia. He takes part in the competition for the creation of a monument to Alexander III and, unexpectedly for everyone, receives the first prize. This monument caused and continues to cause conflicting assessments. It is hard to imagine a more static and heavy monument. And only positive feedback imperial family allowed the monument to take the appropriate place - they found similarities with the original in the sculptural image.
Critics believed that Trubetskoy worked in the spirit of "obsolete impressionism".
Trubetskoy’s image of the brilliant Russian writer turned out to be more “impressionistic”: there is clearly movement here - in the folds of the shirt, the flowing beard, the turn of the head, there is even a feeling that the sculptor managed to catch the tension of L. Tolstoy’s thought.
P. Trubetskoy "Bust of Leo Tolstoy" (bronze). State Tretyakov Gallery
impressionism impressionism
(French impressionnisme, from impression - impression), a trend in art of the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries. It took shape in French painting in the late 1860s - early 70s. The name "Impressionism" arose after the exhibition in 1874, which exhibited a painting by C. Monet "Impression. Rising Sun" ("Impression. Soleil levant", 1872, now at the Musée Marmottan, Paris). At the time of the maturity of impressionism (70s - first half of the 80s), it was represented by a group of artists (Monet, O. Renoir, E. Degas, K. Pissarro, A. Sisley, B. Morisot, etc.), united for struggle for the renewal of art and overcoming the official salon academism and organized 8 exhibitions for this purpose in 1874-86. One of the creators of impressionism was E. Manet, who was not part of this group, but back in the 60s and early 70s. who performed with genre works, in which he rethought the compositional and pictorial techniques of the masters of the 16th-18th centuries. in relation to modern life, as well as scenes of the Civil War of 1861-65 in the USA, the execution of the Parisian Communards, giving them a sharp political focus.
Impressionism continues what was begun by realistic art of the 40-60s. liberation from the conventions of classicism, romanticism and academism, affirms the beauty of everyday reality, simple, democratic motives, achieves a living authenticity of the image. It makes the authentic, aesthetically significant, modern life in its naturalness, in all the richness and sparkle of its colors, capturing visible world in its inherent constant variability, recreating the unity of man and his environment. In many Impressionist paintings (especially in landscapes and still lifes, a number of multi-figured compositions) the transient moment of the continuous flow of life, as if accidentally caught by the eye, is accentuated, the impartiality, strength and freshness of the first impression are preserved, allowing you to capture the unique and characteristic in what you see. The works of the Impressionists are distinguished by cheerfulness, passion for the sensual beauty of the world, but in a number of works by Manet and Degas there are bitter, sarcastic notes.
The Impressionists created the first multi-faceted painting Everyday life modern city, captured the originality of its landscape and the appearance of the people inhabiting it, their way of life, work and entertainment. In the landscape, they (especially Sisley and Pissarro) developed the plein air searches of J. Constable, the Barbizon school, C. Corot and others, developed a complete plein air system. In Impressionist landscapes, a simple, everyday motif is often transformed into an all-pervading moving sunlight bringing a sense of festivity to the picture. Working on a painting directly in the open air made it possible to reproduce nature in all its quivering real vivacity, to subtly analyze and capture its transitional states, to capture the slightest color changes that appear under the influence of a vibrating and fluid light-air medium (organically uniting man and nature), which becomes Impressionism is an independent object of the image (mainly in the works of Monet). In order to preserve the freshness and variety of colors of nature in the paintings, the Impressionists (with the exception of Degas) created a pictorial system that is distinguished by the decomposition of complex tones into pure colors and the interpenetration of clear separate strokes of pure color, as if mixing in the eye of the viewer, light and bright. colors, richness of valor and reflexes, colored shadows. Volumetric forms, as it were, dissolve in the light-and-air shell that envelops them, dematerialize, acquire unsteadiness of outlines: the play of various strokes, pasty and liquid, gives the colorful layer a quivering, relief; this creates a peculiar impression of incompleteness, the formation of an image in front of a person contemplating the canvas. Thus, there is a convergence of the sketch and the picture, and often the merging of several. stages of work into one continuous process. The picture becomes a separate frame, a fragment of the moving world. This explains, on the one hand, the equivalence of all parts of the picture, simultaneously born under the artist’s brush and equally participating in the figurative construction of works, on the other hand, the apparent randomness and imbalance, asymmetry of the composition, bold cuts of figures, unexpected points of view and complex angles that activate the spatial construction.
In certain methods of constructing composition and space in impressionism, the influence of Japanese engraving and some photographs.
The Impressionists also turned to the portrait and everyday genre (Renoir, B. Morisot, partly Degas). The everyday genre and the nude in Impressionism were often intertwined with the landscape (especially in Renoir); figures of people, illuminated by natural light, were usually depicted at open window, in the gazebo, etc. Impressionism is characterized by a mixture household genre with a portrait, a tendency to blur clear boundaries between genres. From the beginning of the 80s. some masters of impressionism in France sought to modify it creative principles. Late impressionism (mid-80s - 90s) developed during the formation of the Art Nouveau style, various directions post-impressionism. Late impressionism is characterized by the emergence of a sense of self-worth of subjective artistic manner artist, the growth of decorative trends. The game of shades and additional tones in the work of impressionism is becoming more and more sophisticated, there is a tendency to greater color saturation of the canvases or to tonal unity; landscapes are combined in a series.
The pictorial manner of impressionism rendered big influence on french painting. Certain features of impressionism were perceived by salon-academic painting. For a number of artists, the study of the Impressionist method became initial stage on the way to building your own art system(P. Cezanne, P. Gauguin, V. van Gogh, J. Seurat).
Creative appeal to impressionism, the study of its principles was an important step in the development of many national European art schools. Influenced french impressionism the work of M. Lieberman, L. Corinth in Germany, K. A. Korovin, V. A. Serov, I. E. Grabar and the early M. F. Larionov in Russia, M. Prendergast and M. Cassatt in the USA, L Vychulkovsky in Poland, the Slovenian Impressionists, etc. At the same time, only certain aspects of Impressionism were picked up and developed outside of France: an appeal to modern themes, the effects of plein air painting, brightening the palette, sketchy painting style, etc. The term "Impressionism" is used also to the sculpture of the 1880-1910s, which has some features similar to impressionist painting - the desire to convey instantaneous movement, fluidity and softness of forms, deliberate plastic incompleteness. Impressionism in sculpture manifested itself most clearly in the works of M. Rosso in Italy, O. Rodin and Degas in France, P. P. Trubetskoy and A. S. Golubkina in Russia, and others. Impressionism in fine arts influenced the development means of expression in literature, music and theatre.
K. Pissarro. "Mail Coach at Louveciennes". Around 1870. Museum of Impressionism. Paris.
Source: Popular art encyclopedia." Ed. Field V.M.; M.: Publishing house " Soviet Encyclopedia", 1986.)
impressionism(French impressionnisme, from impression - impression), a direction in the art of con. 1860 - early. 1880s Most clearly manifested in painting. Leading representatives: K. Monet, ABOUT. Renoir, TO. Pissarro, A. Guillaumin, B. Morisot, M. Cassatt, A. Sisley, G. Caillebotte and J. F. Basile. Together with them they exhibited their paintings by E. Mane and E. Degas, although the style of their works cannot be called completely impressionistic. The name "Impressionists" was assigned to a group of young artists after their first joint exhibition in Paris (1874; Monet, Renoir, Pizarro, Degas, Sisley, etc.), which caused furious indignation of the public and critics. One of the presented paintings by C. Monet (1872) was called “Impression. Sunrise ”(“ L’impression. Soleil levant ”), and the reviewer mockingly called the artists “impressionists” - “impressionists”. The painters performed under this name at the third joint exhibition (1877). Then they began to publish the Impressionist magazine, each issue of which was dedicated to the work of one of the group members.
The Impressionists sought to capture the world in its constant variability, fluidity, impartially express their immediate impressions. Impressionism was based on the latest discoveries in optics and color theory (spectral decomposition of the sun's beam into the seven colors of the rainbow); in this he is consonant with the spirit of scientific analysis, characteristic of con. 19th century However, the Impressionists themselves did not attempt to define theoretical basis his art, insisting on the spontaneity, intuitiveness of the artist's creativity. Artistic principles The Impressionists were not united. Monet painted landscapes only in direct contact with nature, in the open air (in open air) and even built a workshop in the boat. Degas worked in the workshop from memories or using photographs. Unlike representatives of later radical movements, the artists did not go beyond the Renaissance illusory-spatial system based on the use of direct perspectives. They firmly adhered to the method of working from nature, which was erected by them in main principle creativity. Artists strove to "paint what you see" and "as you see". The consistent application of this method entailed the transformation of all the foundations of the existing pictorial system: color, composition, spatial construction. Pure colors were applied to the canvas in small separate strokes: multi-colored “dots” lay side by side, mixing into a colorful spectacle not on the palette and not on the canvas, but in the eye of the viewer. The Impressionists achieved an unprecedented sonority of color, an unprecedented richness of shades. The smear became an independent means of expression, filling the surface of the picture with a lively shimmering vibration of color particles. The canvas was likened to a mosaic shimmering with precious colors. Black, gray, brown shades predominated in the former painting; in the canvases of the Impressionists, the colors shone brightly. The Impressionists did not use chiaroscuro to convey volumes, they abandoned dark shadows, the shadows in their paintings also became colored. Artists widely used additional tones (red and green, yellow and purple), the contrast of which increased the intensity of the color. In Monet's paintings, the colors were brightened and dissolved in the radiance of the rays of sunlight, local colors acquired many shades.
The Impressionists depicted the surrounding world in perpetual motion, the transition from one state to another. They began to paint a series of paintings, wanting to show how the same motif changes depending on the time of day, lighting, weather conditions, etc. (cycles Boulevard Montmartre by C. Pissarro, 1897; Rouen Cathedral, 1893- 95, and "London Parliament", 1903-04, C. Monet). Artists have found ways to reflect in the paintings the movement of clouds (A. Sisley. “Louan in Saint-Mamme”, 1882), the play of glare of sunlight (O. Renoir. “Swing”, 1876), gusts of wind (C. Monet. “Terrace in Sainte-Adresse", 1866), jets of rain (G. Caillebotte. "Jer. Effect of rain", 1875), falling snow (C. Pissarro. "Opera passage. Snow effect", 1898), swift running of horses (E. Manet "Races at Longchamp", 1865).
The Impressionists developed new principles for constructing composition. Previously, the space of the picture was likened to a stage, now the captured scenes resembled a snapshot, a photo frame. Invented in the 19th century photography had a significant influence on the composition of the impressionist painting, especially in the work of E. Degas, who himself was a passionate photographer and, according to him own words, sought to catch the ballerinas depicted by him by surprise, to see them "as if through a keyhole", when their postures, body lines are natural, expressive and reliable. Creating paintings outdoors, the desire to capture rapidly changing lighting forced the artists to speed up the work, write "alla prima" (in one go), without preliminary sketches. Fragmentation, "randomness" of the composition and dynamic pictorial manner created a feeling of special freshness in the paintings of the Impressionists.
The favorite impressionist genre was the landscape; the portrait was also a kind of “landscape of the face” (O. Renoir, “Portrait of the Actress J. Samary”, 1877). In addition, the artists significantly expanded the range of painting subjects, turning to topics that were previously considered unworthy of attention: festivities, horse races, artistic bohemian picnics, backstage life theaters, etc. However, their paintings do not have a detailed plot, a detailed narrative; human life is dissolved in nature or in the atmosphere of the city. The Impressionists did not write events, but moods, shades of feelings. Artists fundamentally rejected historical and literary themes, avoided portraying dramatic, dark sides life (wars, disasters, etc.). They sought to free art from the fulfillment of social, political and moral tasks, from the obligation to evaluate the phenomena depicted. The artists sang the beauty of the world, being able to turn the most everyday motif (room renovation, gray London fog, steam locomotive smoke, etc.) into an enchanting spectacle (G. Caillebotte. "Parquette", 1875; C. Monet. "Saint-Lazare Station" , 1877).
In 1886, the last exhibition of the Impressionists took place (O. Renoir and K. Monet did not participate in it). By this time, significant disagreements between the members of the group were revealed. The possibilities of the method of impressionism were exhausted, and each of the artists began to look for his own own way in art.
Impressionism as a whole creative method was a phenomenon of predominantly French art, but the work of the Impressionists had an impact on the entire European painting. The desire to update the artistic language, brighten the colorful palette, and expose painting techniques are now firmly included in the arsenal of artists. In other countries, J. Whistler (England and the USA), M. Lieberman, L. Corinth (Germany), J. Sorolla (Spain) were close to impressionism. The influence of impressionism was experienced by many Russian artists (V.A. Serov, K. A. Korovin, I. E. Grabar and etc.).
In addition to painting, impressionism was embodied in the work of some sculptors (E. Degas and O. Rodin in France, M. Rosso in Italy, P. P. Trubetskoy in Russia) in lively free modeling of fluid soft forms, which creates a complex play of light on the surface of the material and a feeling of incompleteness of the work; in poses the moment of movement, development is captured. In music, closeness to impressionism is found in the works of C. Debussy ("Sails", "Mists", "Reflections in the Water", etc.).
