Followers of the impressionists
Having become an important turning point in the history of 19th century art, impressionism paved the way for the emergence of new trends in painting. The creative method of the Impressionist artists was taken up and updated by the Post-Impressionists.
At the end of the 19th century, the artists Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) and Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) made themselves known. They united into a group that gave the name to a new artistic direction – post-impressionism. Despite the commonality of views, the creative activity of each of these artists was deeply individual in nature.
The tireless search for a new compositional solution of paintings, methods of transferring color and light are characteristic of the work of Paul Cézanne. In the visible world around him, he did not look for exact correspondences, he was much more interested in the relationship of form and color in space. When he painted his many fruit still lifes, he was least concerned about their similarity to the original. In his canvases, he strove to convey in his own way the form, density, texture and color of the material world. Addressing artists, he advised:
“Start off light and almost neutral, then develop the color scheme, intensifying the colors more and more.”
By arranging objects with particular care, Cezanne deliberately created the impression of compositional disorder. But this feeling immediately disappears as soon as you begin to carefully study what is depicted in the picture. Any seemingly insignificant and accidental element suddenly finds its place in the artist’s plan. For each subject – a long, painstaking search for the optimal solution.
The unusual arrangement of objects in the painting “Peaches and Pears” attracts the attention of the viewer. If you cover the green pear on the right edge of the table, the composition immediately loses its stability, it starts to fall to the left. But this does not happen: the obviously exaggerated dimensions of the pear balance the composition, make it more stable and harmonious. Other deviations from reality are also designed to unify the surface of the canvas. The front edge of the table under the tablecloth has an obvious break. Peaches and pears are simultaneously visible from two points of view: from above and from the side. Such a violation of the perspective leads the viewer’s gaze along the canvas, turning its surface into the true reality of the picture.
The use of color was unusual in Cézanne’s work. The artist believed that cold colors (blue and green) have the property of removing deep into the picture. Warm ones (red, orange, yellow), on the contrary, bring the image closer. With the help of color transitions and repetitions, Cezanne was able to connect objects in the background and foreground, at the same time creating a feeling of their closeness and distance. So he discovered a new way to convey the three-dimensional world in the two-dimensional space of the canvas.
The paintings of the Dutch artist Van Gogh are distinguished by deep spirituality and emotionality.
The recognized masterpiece of the artist is the painting “Starry Night”. Van Gogh said: “The sight of the stars makes me dream.” This painting, created a few months before the artist’s death, became a kind of embodiment of a dream. Above the peacefully sleeping land – “the abode of man” – the abyss of the night sky. Woven from curved, constantly overlapping colored lines, it seems unsettling and foreboding. The sun-colored yellow moon is drawn in the upper right corner as a concave crescent. According to popular belief, such a moon is a sign of misfortune. This gives the painting a special sense of dynamic tension and drama.
The compositional and coloristic solution of the picture is interesting. The composition is based on the ratio of verticals with a powerful horizontal line stretching from left to right across the entire canvas. The image of the night sky takes up almost two thirds of the space, one third is reserved for the landscape. A group of giant cypress trees in the lower left corner and a thin spire of the bell tower, which stands out against the dark background of the hills, connect the earth to the sky. Reaching the sky, they seem to unite the earthly life of man with the higher universe. Clear and pure color, which carries a pronounced expression, becomes the true hero of the picture. Sudden flashes of yellow break the cold veil of blue and blue.
Russian artists of the late 19th – early 20th centuries – K. A. Korovin (1861-1939), V. A. Serov (1865-1911), I. E. Grabar (1871-1960) – experienced a fascination with impressionism in certain periods of their work.
