Post-Impressionism

Allie, Lauren, Lizzi, Jennifer

Themes

• Emphasis on light, color, structure, form • Objective reality --> subjective reality • Use both color and line to express inner

feelings and produce a personal statement of reality rather than an imitation of objects

• Real beginning of modern art

Paul CezanneWoman with Coffee Pot

Styles and Techniques

• Post-Impressionism was the style that developed out or reacted against Impressionism. Post-Impressionism is situated in the late 1800's and early 1900's

• Similarities between both Impressionists and Post-Impressionists are: a real-life subject, distinctive brushstrokes, thick layers of paint and vivid colors.

• The main difference between both styles is that Post-Impressionism aimed to attain more form and structure, as well as more expression and emotion into their paintings.

Vincent Van GoghStarry Night

Connections to Late 19th Century Intellectuals

• Shift from objective reality to subjective reality – Freud believed that unconscious forces strongly determine

human behavior – Nietzsche glorified the irrational – Darwin’s natural selection theory suggested that random

mutations determine survival characteristics • Works are secular – Nietzsche believed that Christianity was responsible for

Western civilization's enfeeblement – Darwin’s Theory of Evolution contradicted Christian beliefs;

people began to not take the Bible so literally

Georges-Pierre SeuratA Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande

Jatte - 1884