Romantic Era
Impressionism
In the late 1900s, it had more structure than past artistic styles, even with its oddity. The difference between classical and impressionism lies in the message depicted through art. Classical art is more realistic; Impressionism removes a level of detail achieved within classical painting styles, as it is more blurs and noisy. With various lights, colors, and blurring techniques, impressionistic art is left to the interpreter’s analysis of the meaning behind the artistic choices. The point of impressionism is to provide a level of flexibility in that the painting can mean something to everyone.
The Starry Night, 1889, by Vincent Van Gogh
Van Gogh is typically the first painter people consider when speaking of the impressionistic art styles developed during the romantic era. Though more popular, impressionism is a widely known and popular style of art. Within The Starry Night, you can find all the defining characteristics of an impressionistic painting. Van Gogh developed this detailed yet distinct color transition technique, in which most of his paintings achieve a specific collage of color that most artists only dreamed of capturing. Yet the art looks smooth and flowing, as if you can almost picture the colors if they continue moving. Emotion is not the goal behind an impressionistic artist’s work; however, in the interpreter’s mind, the typical translation of Van Gogh’s masterpiece is peace and unity, or sometimes sleep. Van Gogh wished to achieve a deeper focus in a person’s mind while attempting to study and interpret his paintings. As there is a distinct lack of light within the night sky, it would require a more focused use of memory, meaning Van Gogh attempted to paint with different techniques in the hopes of triggering specific psychological responses that would allow long-term recollection of his pieces if you notice that Van Gogh uses more defined lines within his works than most impressionist artists, which may have been his defining uniqueness, achieving such blurred effect while still maintaining the line detail that classical artists would have focused on. My interpretation of The Starry Night is that life flows on; no matter the event or disruption to your life, the skies flow endlessly as life continues with or without you. It’s a painting that has constantly reminded me how small I am in the grand scheme of things.
Oddly enough, it is believed that Van Gogh found inspiration in colors and lighting through Monet’s work. Specifically speaking, my next piece is the artwork that is said to have inspired Van Gogh’s focus on the night sky and capturing its colorful magnetism.
The Windmill at Amsterdam, 1871 by Claude Monet
A fascinating bit about Windmills, they were used in many artists’ pieces during the Romantic Era as a break or balance to a landscape or cityscape. Windmills were famous due to their newest function of providing power through the movement of streams or wind.
Monet’s Windmill is the defined subject within this painting; built in the late 17th century; it powered equipment used in dye extraction from wood grains. Its function made it one of the most focused and exciting windmills for artists during the Romantic Era. Monet’s impressionistic painting style was criticized upon publishing this piece, a technique that we know goes on to be one of the popular forms of art that were widely pushed against during its infancy. During the initial publishing of this painting, there was an apparent negative attitude toward it; now, it is one of Monet’s internationally known pieces. Monet, in many ways, is one of the artists who pushed artistic development onwards, as his impressionistic style shocked many but eventually paved the way for other artists to come forward and receive more favorable replies.
Monet was one of the first artists to use such light colors within a painting, one of the distinctive qualities of abstract paintings. Throughout the landscape, specifically the sky, there is some shading, but much of the picture focuses on lighter colors giving it an overall uplifting personality. As stated above, impressionistic art is about the focus of the interpreter’s view and how the painting speaks to them. Monet utilized paints that were so light that they appeared clear, and he utilized this technique often; this fact and the crystal sky are the two points of his painting that fascinated Van Gogh. Impressionistic artists believe there is a new color theory in that exact colors are within the shadows.
Van Gogh and Monet have that unique and precise dabbing technique, with strokes typically abrupt or hurried. Where Monet focused on lighter colors, Van Gogh was usually known for his different take on color pallets. Impressionism achieved the romanticism artist’s goal of focusing on emotion and the senses rather than rational and thought.
Realism
Not as popular as impressionism, yet it still provides importance to the Romantic Era’s history. Developed in the mid-1800s, it was created much the same way as Neoclassical, in reaction to romanticism. Often paintings of everyday objects or people throughout their daily lives provide a certain level of reality to a field usually known for a person’s escape. The lack of emotion within these paintings provides a turn of art history as they leave the classical period emphasizing emotional expressions within their subjects.
In opposition to Impressionism, Realism focuses on portraying an individual, subject, or proper meaning behind a picture rather than the artist’s imagined meaning. Realism dates to the 1400s but was not recognized or termed until the Romantic Era. Through my examples of authenticity, you should easily understand the differences between Impressionism, as there are noticeable distinctions between the two styles.
Gustave Courbet, The Desperate Man, 1843-45
The dark features of this painting alone would be a shocking difference from impressionism. Keep in mind that realism art is in almost direct opposition. The artist’s goal in this painting is to portray this man’s desperation and how that reflects in his expression. Look into his eyes; the painting and color work is so detailed that you can almost imagine seeing the reflection of something within them. Within Realism styles of artwork, the human form is most important. If you take a moment to look at this individual’s wrist, you will see the definition and details provided to stay true to the human body’s complexities. With an almost clear description of the muscles and veins, it is as if the viewer looks at their wrist and finds it reflecting at them in the painting. This is an evident characteristic of Realism, accomplishing a natural form of the subject. The color within this painting gives an overall darker perception of the situation, as the shadowing depicts that the man is turned from the light. This gives the image an overall depressive mood, adding to the desperation expressed here.
Fallen Monarchs, 1886
by William Bliss Baker
Many find this painting to represent Nature’s ability
to give birth among the dead. This depiction is explained as the growth of new
trees, moss, and leaves thriving around the fallen dead. Baker’s piece is a
beautiful rendition of the forests we love and know within the United States.
With his colors, Baker emphasizes the almost ethereal glow within a forest,
specifically as the sunlight shines through the patches of leaves, giving a hopeful
feel to the picture. His use of dark and light colors provides the forest with
a 3D representation, successfully achieving a picturesque natural form. Baker keeps
true to the structure of trees, specifically the naturalistic patterns within the
bark and fallen foliage. With clear lines and details throughout the trees in
this painting, you can tell the amount of detail that Baker applied to this painting
had to have been a tedious task.
Realism style represents the attempt to catch a single
moment in time and portray it realistically; Baker has achieved this fantastically.
With the growth of trees all around, if you look on the right-hand side of the painting,
you will find a clearing of dead trees. This is not a surprise to those of us
who have spent our childhoods in the forest, but for those who may not have had
the same experiences, it could be a picture of a different world that speaks of
the balance between life and death that Nature holds. In most cases, you will
find that realism art is about representing things around us so that others can
also experience them.
Admin (2022) William Bliss Baker - Fallen monarchs, BYU Museum of
Art Store. BYU Museum of Art Store. Available at:
https://moastore.byu.edu/product/fallen-monarchs/ (Accessed: November 3, 2022).
Hi Jasmine,
ReplyDeleteI like the art that you shared in your blog. I am definitely a bigger fan of realism art, rather than impressionism art, but there are some impressionist pieces of art that I find to be pretty cool and interesting. I like realism art, because it is cool to see things as they really are, with so much detail, even though they have only been created by paint. Impressionist art is cool at times, but it is not always a good representation of something, since it is not detailed at all.
The Starry Night, by Vincent van Gough is one of the impressionistic paintings that I like. It is cool to see the town and the hills under the stars of the night sky. As you had pointed out, I like how the clouds were created, so it looks like they are moving. Van Gogh depicts the stars as circles, so that we get the sense of continuous movement, so we can know that the white clouds are moving. Doing a little bit of research, Vincent van Gogh completed this painting when he was in an insane asylum, where it is believed that he completed the painting, as a contemplation of his life. This is because cypress trees were known to be a symbol of death, while the stars were also incorporated into his painting, since it was believed that a person would go to a star after dying. I like the painting, but I am not very fond of it, when I have this point of view in mind, since it is quite depressing.
The oil painting, The Windmill at Amsterdam, by Claude Monet is kind of a fun painting, but I do not like it too much, because it is a painting of regular buildings, and a windmill, which are not detailed at all. Monet’s painting was created, so that we would be able to see what a specific portion of a city looked like. I would agree that this painting helps us to know what specific parts of cities from around the world look like, but it would be better, if we had more details to look at. I would definitely agree with you, Monet was able to make his painting look more realistic, by using shadows. I would also like to point out that he used curved lines to create the top of the windmill, and to create the top of the building to the left of the windmill, so that we would get the feeling of ease. He did this, so we would know that the people in the painting are at ease, as they are talking to one another, as friends.
I would not like to own a copy of The Desperate Man, by Gustave Courbet, but it is definitely a cool painting, being as it looks so real, and that Courbet did such a good job at making the man in his painting look desperate. Courbet created this painting of himself, to show that he was desperate, and sad, since his art was rejected several times from a yearly art exhibit. With this painting, I am able to see that Courbet is really desperate to get his paintings into an art exhibit. He is probably desperate, because he has not been able to make money with his paintings. As you explained, Courbet used tone in his painting, causing it to be darker, so that it is more dramatic, so we will realize that he is really desperate.
Casper David Friedrich did a good job painting the Wanderer above the Sea of Fog. I like this painting, because it is a pretty detailed painting of a man on the top of a peak, standing high above the clouds, as he enjoys the landscape that can be seen above the clouds. Friedrich made this painting to show a person in solitude, but that is not how I see it. I see a man who completed a hard journey up a mountain, who is looking at the view, while enjoying himself, since he was able to complete something challenging. I feel like there are quite a bit of rocks that are curved, to show that he is at ease, since he is able to relax, while admiring the mountains. On the other hand, though, you could see that a lot of the rocks are made up of jagged lines, which show that the man in the painting is experiencing anxiety, since he is lonesome.
Hello Jasmine, I enjoyed reading your post on Impressionism vs. Realism. I enjoy Impressionism the most throughout the Romantic Era, due to the artists painting scenes from memories and emotions. It provides such a deep connection with the viewers. I was fascinated by your fact about the windmill being used in a lot of Romantic Era paintings as a break or balance. I also enjoyed the paintings you chose to analyze as they are all beautiful and have great meanings. Vincent van Gogh like most is one of my favorite artists, as his use of colors and textures bring a calming wave over my mind. It is such great art to just take in and feel the raw emotion being portrayed. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Jasmine, thank you for your post! When looking at the Impressionism and Realism art styles, I would prefer realism. I don't like the lack of, or removal of detail you see in the impressionism style art pieces. I think the colors are beautiful and out of the Starry Night painting and The Windmill at Amsterdam painting, I prefer the latter. The colors used in both give the paintings depth and make the space look larger. The realism art pieces seem to convey much more emotion. The colors used in the paintings tend to be darker and more saturated. The saturation of the colors combined with the realistic look bring the paintings alive. They also feel more relatable. ‘The Desperate man’ has an urgent feel that many have felt in their lifetime and the ‘Fallen Monarchs’ remind me of forests I have passed through in real life. The artists of these pieces have a distinct intention compared to the artists of the impressionism art which leave much more up to interpretation of the viewer. Great job!
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