Impressionism vs. Post-Impressionism

The assignment content discusses the periods of Impressionism (1870-1890) and Post-Impressionism in art history. Impressionist painters, such as Claude Monet and Edgar Degas, focused on capturing light and color in their works, while Post-Impressionist artists, like Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, emphasized expressing emotions through their paintings. The two periods share similarities in terms of breaking away from traditional academic painting styles, but also have distinct differences in terms of the level of emotional expression in their works.

Humanities
Impressionism vs. Post-impressionism
Student Name: Dwaraka R Iyengar
Student ID: 000231066
Course Name: Literature, Humanities
Course ID: IWT1

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Selected two periods
The two periods that has been selected for the study are impressionism and the post-
impressionism.
A1 – Earlier Historical Art Period
The period of the impressionism lies between the years 1870 and 1890. The depicting the
various patterns of light can be found in abundance in this period. The individuals who were
oriented towards the impressionism during this period clearly violated what the academic
painting reflected. The use of free brush movements and colors was observed. Use of small
and thin brushstrokes was the norm in impressionism. This was a traditional break in the way
European painting worked. The orientation towards the scientific research also came into
existence in this period. The painters in this period focused on covering the daily happenings
around the world (Nochin, 1966). Their paintings also reflected the feelings of the painters.
Some of the well-known painters from this period are Claude Monet, Mary Cassat, Camille
Pissarro, Edgar Degas, and others. During this period, the social condition of the France was
during the huge changes. The impressionist painting reflected the reaction to the sanctions
made by the government on the paintings in the name of academic changes.
A2 - Later Historical Art Period
The post-impressionism is also referred to as the period of French art. The development of
this period was early 20th century. The arts developed in the post-impressionist period can be
witnessed to be highly influenced by the arts from the artists of the impressionist period. The
focus on the painters during this period was behind capturing the emotions of the masses. The
style of the painting was more of free style which was similar to that of the impressionists
painting, however, the thing that evolved was the expression of emotion in the painting.

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Some of the well-known painters from this period were Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh,
Henri Rousseau, and others. The inclusions of geometric shapes were also observed in the
paintings of this period. The people in the post-impressionist were experiencing political and
economic oppression that clearly reflected in the paintings during this period.
A3 – Relationship between the two periods
There are numerous relationships between these two periods and in variety of ways and the
reason behind such relationship is the closeness in the periods, time and location. The later
period has been seen to be impacted by the earlier period and, therefore, the presence of
similarity can be an obvious understanding. On the other hand, there are some differences
also in these two periods. They have been described below.
A3a - Stylistic differences
In the previous period, there was presence of freedom of expression. The presence of freedom
of expression was what induced little to no emotional inputs in the paintings in the previous
period. However, the later period observed numerous instances of emotional inputs in the
paintings made by the painters. The lack of freedom of expression in the physical world due
to various forms of oppression, reflected in the paintings during the later period. The
emotions shown in the painting reflected the emotion of the masses.
Example: On one hand where the paintings of Paul Cezanne reflected intellectual and
cerebral orientation, on the other hand the paintings of Van Gogh and Paul Gaugin reflected
spiritualism and romanticism that amply reflects the emotions.
A3a- Stylistic similarities

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One important similarity among both the period was the desire to move out of the academic
painting structures and gain style of freedom. The willingness of freedom can also be
observed in the paintings of these periods.
Example: If the paintings of any artists are observed such as Paul Cezanney (impressionism),
and Gogh and Gaugin (Post-impression), it can be clearly identified that their paintings
moved away from the use of idealism which was prevalent in the academic art styles.
A3b – Explanation of Comparison : One Art Piece
Comparison between Sunrise by Monet and the Starry Night by Van Gogh has been
considered. Sunrise depicts the surrounding on an as-is basis with the personal theory from
the artist that no object has a definite color (Monet, 1998). This theory reflects in the painting
where instead of mixing red and blue to get the violet, the artist has left both the color side
with light impression. On the other hand, the Starry Night painting shows the abstract form of
representation with explosive color combination showing emotional response and expression
(Thomson, 2008).
A4 - Reason behind the later period continued or deviated from the artistic style and
tradition of the earlier period
The artists in the later period were willing to move beyond what was called the passive form
of developing the paintings. The passive perception was what the later period tried to break.
Monet was of the orientation that the immediate perception be reflected in the painting.
However, this was rejected by the artists from the later period and they preferred to go with
the style where they expressed the surroundings with the inclusion of their own personal and
unique view. This change in the perception has been reflected in the arts in the post-
impressionism period.

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A5 - Way the later art period influenced the future art world
The Stylistic influence was evident on the art work of the future. For instance, the artists from
the post-impressionists period considered style of previous period but later added emotion to
it. The similar can be witnessed in the Feminism art of contemporary world. The Feminism
art reflects the concern of the artists towards using personal styles. The paintings are
considered as the window to the soul of the individual painting it. The contemporary Cubism
and Abstract art can be considered as the result of post-impressionists’ abstract pattern and
geometrical arts. The current experiments with various forms of color patters and pictorial
planes seems coming directly from the later period.

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References
Monet, C., 1998. Impression: Sunrise, 1872. University of Manitoba.
Nochlin, L., 1966. Impressionism and post-impressionism, 1874-1904: sources and
documents. Prentice Hall.
Thomson, R., 2008. Vincent Van Gogh: The Starry Night. The Museum of Modern Art.