Impression landscapes
Impressionist painters preferred impression landscapes to realistic landscapes. With loving, interested eyes, they observed the slightest changes in the state of nature, trying to capture its “soul”. The variability of the weather, the constantly changing rhythm of her life, the lightness and fragility of the air, thousands of elusive reflections on the water surface, fog or smoke are now of the most interest to artists.
Plots for such pictures sometimes appeared in the most unexpected way. Once Claude Monet, who visited the famous Parisian Gare Saint-Lazare, exclaimed:
“Found, found! Saint-Lazare! At the moment the trains leave, the smoke of the steam locomotives obscures everything so that nothing can be seen around. This is a magical picture. A genuine extravaganza! “
A few days later, he came here again and turned to the head of the station with a request to work on the picture. Flattered by the attention of the famous artist, the head of the station gave the order to stop the movement of all trains, to free the platform, to fill the locomotives to capacity with coal, which would release “as much smoke as Monet needed.” This is how one of his masterpieces appeared – the painting “Gare Saint-Lazare”.
The large gallery of the station with departing and arriving trains serves only as a background for the image. The main theme is the play of light on the metal gallery ceilings and the puffs of steam released by the locomotive of an approaching train. The background space is a swirl of colors: yellow, white, pink, pale green, gray with blue and red blotches. One gets the impression that the pictorial fabric is created from flowing masses of clouds, gentle play of the sky reflected in the glass of the building, smoke and steam. The outlines of the train, the volumes of the architectural structures are not clearly defined and suddenly arise out of continuous confusion. The figures of passengers on the platform benches, soldiers or railroad workers standing between the tracks are blurred. The artist is fascinated by the effect of light pouring through the glass roof onto the clouds of steam. It seems that only light takes Monet’s imagination …
Impression landscapes created by Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley are sometimes flooded with bright sunlight, sometimes covered with large flakes of white, pure snow. The works of Sislei – the most consistent of the Impressionists – are distinguished by their sophistication in conveying the nature of cozy suburbs, small provincial towns with small houses located on the banks of rivers and bays. The artist was especially successful in conveying an almost intangible space in which earth and sky merge into a single substance.
In the painting “Flood in Port Marly” he masterfully conveys the atmosphere of a cloudy day, heavy gray clouds hanging over the water and ready to rain down. He began to paint any of his paintings from the sky, believing that the sky gives it depth and imparts movement. After trying many techniques, he learned to paint the sky so that it ceased to be “just a background.”
Here’s what Pissarro said about the creation of his paintings:
“I only see spots. When I start painting, the first thing I do is … set the ratio. There are undoubtedly certain relations between this sky, earth and water, and these relations cannot be otherwise than harmonious. This is the main difficulty of painting. I am less and less interested in the material side of painting (that is, lines). The most important thing is to reduce everything, even the smallest details, to the harmony of the whole, that is, to consistency. “
The city landscape becomes the favorite motive of K. Pissarro. Fifteen canvases created by him with views of the Boulevard Montmartre, six views of the Opera Passage from the window of the Louvre Hotel belong to the best works of the artist. A silvery haze of rain, reflections of the sun on the roofs of houses, a light lilac dusk create a unique atmosphere of the French capital.
The painting “Opera Passage in Paris” conveys the everyday atmosphere of the hectic life of a big city. The roofs of the houses are lightly covered with snow. Fast carriages flash along the wet pavements, pedestrians hurry about their business. The building of the Grand Opera is sinking in the humid air, light fog, evenly enveloping the street. The silhouettes of bare trees convey a dull, dreary mood. A small, moving brushstroke of the artist creates a shaky, shimmering picture, woven from a single matter, due to which such an unusual optical effect arises.
Due to an eye disease, Pissarro was unable to work outdoors. He painted most of his landscapes looking through the glass of the closed windows of the first floors. This point of view produced interesting spatial effects and angles.
