Impressionism, Expressionism, Art Novue, Cubism,

1. ART & ARCHITECTURE

3. Started: 1872 Ended: 1892
Impressionism is the name given to a colorful
style of painting in France at the end of the
19th century. The Impressionists searched for
a more exact analysis of the effects of color
and light in nature. They sought to capture
the atmosphere of a particular time of day or
the effects of different weather conditions.
They often worked outdoors and applied their
paint in small brightly colored strokes which
meant sacrificing much of the outline and
detail of their subject. Impressionism
abandoned the conventional idea that the
shadow of an object was made up from its
color with some brown or black added.
Instead, the Impressionists enriched their
colors with the idea that a shadow is broken
up with dashes of its complementary color.
Impressionism
"There are no lines in nature,
only areas of color, one against
another."

4. Le déjeuner sur l'herbe (1863)
Artist: Edouard Manet
Oil on canvas - Musee d'Orsay, Paris
Artwork description & Analysis: When
Manet painted his Le déjeuner sur
l'herbe(Luncheon on the Grass), he had
already distanced himself from the
tradition of Realist painting and the
academic subjects of the salon. The
painting, which depicts the picnic of two
fully clothed men and two nude women,
defies the tradition of the idealized female
subject of Neo-Classicism in the
positioning of the woman on the left who
gazes frankly out at the viewer- she is
confrontational, rather than passive. The
thick, imprecise brushstrokes of the
background, flattening of three-
dimensionality, and use of unconventional
subject matter influenced later
Impressionists in their portrayals of the
natural world and modern life.
Impressionism

5. Artwork description & Analysis: A
central figure of the Impressionist
circle, Berthe Morisot is known for both
her compelling portraits and her
poignant landscapes. In a Park
combines these elements of figuration
with representations of nature in this
serene family portrait set in a bucolic
garden. Like Mary Cassatt, Morisot is
recognized for her portrayals of the
private sphere of female society. As in
this quiet image of family life, she
centered on the maternal bond
between mother and child. Her loose
handling of pastels, a medium
embraced by the Impressionists, and
visible application of color and form
were central characteristics of her
work.
In a Park (1874)
Artist: Berthe Morisot
Pastel on paper - Musee du Petit
Palais, Paris

6. Artwork description & Analysis: In 1878,
Monet moved his family to the town of
Vetheuil in northern France. They temporarily
lived with a wealthy magnate who became
Monet's patron. His Vetheuil in the Fog is
among his finest works, offering a subtle,
albeit distinct impression of a figural form. As
was characteristic of many of Monet's
paintings, he applied his brush rather quickly
to the canvas in order to capture the exact
image he wanted before the sunlight shifted or
faded away altogether. Monet's emphasis on
the fleeting changes in the natural world was a
central aspect of his oeuvre that captures the
ephemerality of nature and preserves it within
the picture plane; thus, the momentary
perception is crystallized in the replication of
the optical experience of it.
Vetheuil in the Fog (1879)
Artist: Claude Monet
Oil on canvas - Musee Marmottan
Monet, Paris

7. Fog, Voisins (1874)
Artist: Alfred Sisley
Artwork description & Analysis: Sisley, along
with Monet, was one of the central
proponents of the plein air technique, using
this method in his famous paintings of the
Voisins countryside, where he moved in 1871.
Unlike Degas, Renoir, Cassatt, or Morisot, Sisley
focused almost expressly on representations of
the atmosphere while diminishing the
importance of the human figure, if they
appeared at all. Fog, Voisins demonstrates this
general preoccupation with the visual
perception of the natural world through the
application of rough, clearly visible
brushstrokes and the blurry, almost ethereal
rendering of color and form. Here, a woman,
serenely picking flowers, is almost entirely
obscured within the dense fog that eclipses
the pastoral scene. Like much of Sisley's work,
the protagonist of the painting is nature and
the visual reception of it.
Oil on canvas -
Musee d'Orsay, Paris

8. Post-Impressionism
Birth: The Post Impressionists were a loose
group of Paris-based artists who are often
viewed together because of their various
reactions to the earlier Impressionism
movement.
Ideas: Post-Impressionists turned away from
the effects of light and atmosphere to
explore painting theory and the subjective
artistic vision. Artists such as Gauguin and
van Gogh looked to memories and emotions
to explore personal ideas, while Cézanne
and Seurat explored the building blocks of
painting such as colors, shapes, and overall
composition.
Nature is not only all
that is visible to the
eye...It also includes
the inner pictures of
the soul."

9. Artwork description & Analysis: Seurat's
Sunday Afternoon is perhaps the most
famous example of the painting technique
known as Pointillism. Although the picture
contains the impressionistic elements of
light and shadow and depicts the leisure
activities of the Parisian bourgeoisie, it is an
early example of the artistic reaction to the
Impressionist movement. Seurat composed
the entire scene from a series of small,
precise dots of color. If viewed closely, the
painting becomes nothing more than a
quasi-abstract array of colors, similar to a
needlepoint. When viewed at an
appropriate distance, however, Sunday
Afternoon comes into focus. Seurat
carefully placed each dot in relation to the
ones around it in order to create the
desired optical effect. He did so in order to
bring structure and rationality to what he
perceived were the triviality and
disorganization rampant in Impressionism.
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande
Jatte (1884-86)
Artist: Georges Seurat
Oil on canvas - The Art Institute of Chicago

10. Artwork description & Analysis:
The painting, which depicts a revelatory
vision of Jacob wrestling with an angel,
clearly delineates reality and spiritual
manifestation through aesthetic form. While
the crowd of churchgoers who experience
the vision is in the foreground, the Biblical
struggle appears in the background,
surrounded by a two-dimensional and
vibrantly colored plane. Gauguin relied upon
the abstraction of the red ground to
communicate the space of the vision as well
as the heightened emotions present at a
religious revelation. As this work
demonstrates, Gauguin rejected the
conventions of industrialized modern society,
in both his art and his life, through
romanticized evocations of the primitive, the
incorporeal, and the mystical. In doing so, he
helped initiate the individualized
expressionistic vein of avant-garde art that
influenced generations of artists throughout
the twentieth century.
Vision After the Sermon (1888)
Artist: Paul Gauguin
Oil on canvas - National Gallery of Scotland,
Edinburgh

11. Artwork description & Analysis: Vuillard, one of
the most renowned members of Les Nabis, is
known for his intimate portraits of family
members and friends as well as his fixation
upon decorative patterns. In this bold self-
portrait, however, he centers upon the artist
by placing his intense gaze front and center. He
synthesizes the influences of Japanese
woodblock printing, Pointillism, and the artistic
tradition of self-portraiture with his personal
ideals and goals for painting in this vivid self-
representation. The broad brushstrokes and
sketchy depiction of Vuillard's features draw
our attention to the materiality of the canvas,
while the muted colors of the palette signal
the artist's departure from observed nature.
Octagonal Self-Portrait (ca. 1890)
Artist: Édouard Vuillard
Oil on board - Private Collection

12. Artist Vincent van Gogh
Year 1889
Catalogue F612 JH1731
Medium Oil on canvas
The Starry Night is an oil on canvas
by the Dutch post-impressionist
painter Vincent van Gogh. Painted in
June 1889, it depicts the view from
the east-facing window of his asylum
room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence,
just before sunrise, with the addition
of an idealized village.It is regarded
as among Van Gogh's finest works,[4]
and is one of the most recognized
paintings in the history of Western
culture.

13. Artwork description & Analysis: Van Gogh was
one of the modern era's most gifted and
emotionally troubled artists. Although grossly
underappreciated in his lifetime, Van Gogh was
an impulsive and often spontaneous painter who
embodied many of the ideals of the Post-
Impressionist movement. In Portrait of Doctor
Gachet, Van Gogh strove to elicit a complex
mixture of emotions within the viewer, rather
than portray a naturalistic description of the
sitter. Van Gogh created painterly rhythms and
swirling forms within the arrangement of the
figure in order to convey elements of strength,
intelligence, and melancholy. Through such
intimate and personalized interpretations, Van
Gogh epitomized the rejection of Impressionistic
optical observation in favor of an emotionally
laden representation that appealed to the
viewer's heart, rather than his mind.
Portrait of Doctor Gachet (1890)
Artist: Vincent van Gogh
Oil on canvas - Private collection

14. Art Nouveau
Birth: Art Nouveau dominated the decorative arts as
visual artists, designers, and architects began
adopting modern and naturalistic modes of
decoration, as opposed to the ornateness of
Victorian-era design.
Ideas: Art Nouveau had a vast number of
practitioners throughout Europe and went by several
names such as Jugendstil and The Glasgow Style. The
shared vision was to modernize decorative design
using organic and geometric forms, simple floral
patterns, "whiplash" curves, and angular contours. It
aimed to raise the status of craft, aspiring to "total
works of the arts" (Gesamtkunstwerk) – for example,
to create buildings and interiors in which every
element partook of the same visual vocabulary.
"Art is a line
around your
thoughts."

15. Artwork description & Analysis:
Mackmurdo's woodcut print is an example of
the influence of English design, and by
extension the Arts and Crafts movement, on
Art Nouveau. In particular, Mackmurdo's use
of positive and negative space, his abstract-
cum-naturalistic forms, and the trademark
"whiplash" curves, are all characteristic of
the visual and decorative energy that would
eventually define Art Nouveau. However,
despite Mackmurdo's print being commonly
referred to as the very first work of Art
Nouveau, its obvious differences with later
works still make it a key precursor rather
than definitive example of the movement's
style.
Cover design for 'Wren's City
Churches' (1883)
Artist: Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo
Woodcut on handmade paper

16. Artwork description & Analysis:
Toulouse-Lautrec is not typically
associated with the vast number of Art
Nouveau artists, but some of his later
work deserves consideration as an
example of the movement's output. His
late lithographic posters in particular
bear comparison to the Japanese prints
that so widely influenced Art Nouveau.
La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge takes the
flourish and messiness of a French can-
can dancer's dress and breaks it down to
a few simple, rhythmic lines. The way in
which the poster sacrifices spatial depth
to create a bold impression of linear
surface design is also typical of the
movement.
La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge (1891)
Artist: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Lithograph - Philadelphia Museum of Art

17. Artwork description & Analysis: Beardsley's The Peacock
Skirt, an illustration made for Oscar Wilde's 1892 play
Salome, is comparatively polite in comparison with
some of the illustrator's more erotic, borderline
pornographic, works. It is a fine example of how many
artists influenced by Art Nouveau laid great emphasis
on surface design, often abstracting their figures to
produce the fashionable sinuous lines so characteristic
of the style. One might also take it as an example of
how the formal vocabulary of the style could be used
with exuberant excess, a quality that would later attract
criticism. The influence of Japonisme on Art Nouveau is
also evident in Beardsley's work. But this illustration
might also be taken as an example of the
contemporaneous Aesthetic movement, and in that
respect it demonstrates how Art Nouveau overlapped
and interacted with various other period styles.
The Peacock Skirt (1894)
Artist: Aubrey Beardsley
Ink illustration

18. Fauvism
Birth: The Fauves were a loosely affiliated
group of French painters who shared a
preoccupation with expression through color
and form.
Ideas: The group built on Post-Impressionist
experiments with paint application, subject
matter, expressive line, and pure color -
especially the innovations of van Gogh, Seurat,
and Gauguin. Led by Matisse, The Fauves
developed an anti-naturalistic style to express
personal feelings towards their subjects.
Formally, their work is characterized by vivid,
often unmixed color, striking surface design
and a bold approach to execution. A sky could
be orange, a tree could be blue, and simple
forms and saturated colors drew attention to
the flatness of the canvas.
"If the trees look
yellow to the artist,
then painted a bright
yellow they must be."

19. Artwork description & Analysis: Derain painted this
portrait of Matisse during the artists' shared summer
in Collioure, when the two men were experimenting
side-by-side in their work. As in most Fauvist
portraiture, a detailed likeness of the subject was not
the artist's goal. Derain's chief focus was to express a
state of mind through the use of visible brushwork
and fluid lines, both of which accentuated his
applications of pure color. The sitter's right side is
shadowed in violet and turquoise, and the left side of
his face is highlighted in broad strokes of pink and
red; this non-naturalistic use of saturated color
underscores the figure's direct, intense gaze. While
the background is painted in thin, vertical strokes,
Matisse's head emerges more strongly in impasto
brushwork, as if Derain were building it up from the
paint itself, rather than through the traditional use of
shading or perspective.
Portrait of Henri Matisse (1905)
Artist: André Derain
Oil on canvas - Tate, London

20. Artwork description & Analysis: This scene depicts
the portion of the Seine that runs through Chatou,
the Paris suburb where de Vlaminck and Derain
shared a studio beginning in 1901. For The River
Seine, de Vlaminck used impasto (a technique
practiced by many Fauves): thick daubs of paint
applied directly from the tube, then brushed
together in short strokes to create the effect of
movement. For the water and sky, de Vlaminck
used a range of blues and greens, as well as
dazzling white highlights applied in choppy dabs;
the two red-and-orange trees at the left provide a
lively contrast. The finished effect is one of
brightness and vibrating motion; detail and
traditional perspective matter far less than a
sense of buoyant pleasure. As de Vlaminck said, "I
try to paint with my heart and my guts without
worrying about style."
Oil on canvas - The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York
The River Seine at Chatou (1906)
Artist: Maurice de Vlaminck

21. Artwork description & Analysis: Dance and its
pendant Music were two of Matisse's late
Fauvist works, the culmination of his work in
this style. These large-scale canvases were
commissioned by the Russian merchant Sergei
Shchukin, a major patron of avant-garde art in
that period. The arrangement of figures in a
circular dance is a centuries-old motif, often
used to suggest a golden age of harmony and
leisure. However, by simplifying and distorting
his dancers' anatomy for expressive purposes,
and painting them in a vibrant, non-naturalistic
red against a flat ground of blue sky and green
earth, Matisse emphasized the primordial
aspect of dance. The figures' extremities brush
the edges of the composition, as if their
dynamism were barely contained by the
canvas. When it was first exhibited publicly, at
the Salon d'Automne of 1910, Dance puzzled
and shocked the audience.
La Danse (1910)
Artist: Henri Matisse
Oil on canvas - The Hermitage. St.
Petersburg, Russia

22. Woman with a Hat (La femme au chapeau) is a painting
by Henri Matisse.it depicts Matisse's wife, Amelie.[1] It
was painted in 1905 and exhibited at the Salon
d'Automne during the fall of the same year, along with
works by André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck and
several other artists known as "Fauves".[2]
Although the Fauve works on display were condemned
by many—"A pot of paint has been flung in the face of
the public", declared the critic Camille Mauclair—they
also gained some favorable attention.[4] The painting
that was singled out for attacks was Matisse's Woman
with a Hat, which was bought by Gertrude and Leo
Stein: this had a very positive effect on Matisse's
morale, which had suffered with the bad reception of
his work.[4]
Artist Henri Matisse
Year 1905
Medium Oil on canvas

23. The Green Stripe (La Raie Verte), also known as
Portrait of Madame Matisse. The Green Line, is
a portrait by Henri Matisse of his wife, Amélie
Noellie Matisse-Parayre. He painted it in 1905,
just prior to such works being derisively
labeled as the creations of Les Fauves (the wild
beasts), along with similar works of André
Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck.[1]
The painting hangs in Statens Museum for
Kunst in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Artist Henri Matisse
Year 1905
Medium Oil on canvas

24. Expressionism
Birth: Expressionism emerged simultaneously
in various cities across Germany as a response
to fears of a loss of authenticity and
spirituality.
Ideas: Reacting against Impressionism, but
influenced by Symbolism, the Expressionists
focused on communicating spirituality and
feeling in art. Drawn simultaneously to
primitivism and to modern life, they employed
distorted imagery and a rich palette to convey
profound emotion. Art now came from within
the artist, not the external world. On the
canvas, swirling, swaying, and exaggeratedly
executed brushstrokes revealed turbulent
inner states or the mysteries of nature. The
movement also often recorded social criticism
of the modern city, depicting alienated
modern individuals.
"Everyone who
renders directly and
honestly whatever
drives him to create
is one of us."

25. Artwork description & Analysis: Throughout his artistic
career, Munch focused on scenes of death, agony, and
anxiety in distorted and emotionally charged portraits,
all themes and styles that would be adopted by the
Expressionists. Here, in Munch's most famous
painting, he depicts the battle between the individual
and society. The setting of The Scream was suggested
to the artist while walking along a bridge overlooking
Oslo; as Munch recalls, "the sky turned as red as
blood. I stopped and leaned against the
fence...shivering with fear. Then I heard the
enormous, infinite scream of nature." Although
Munch did not observe the scene as rendered in his
painting, The Scream evokes the jolting emotion of
the encounter and exhibits a general anxiety toward
the tangible world. The representation of the artist's
emotional response to a scene would form the basis
of the Expressionists' artistic interpretations. The
theme of individual alienation, as represented in this
image would persist throughout the twentieth
century, captivating Expressionist artists as a central
feature of modern life.
The Scream (1893)
Artist: Edvard Munch
Tempera and crayon on cardboard
- National Museum, Oslo

26. Artwork description & Analysis: Kirchner is renowned for his
many Berlin street scenes, and this particular work is perhaps
his most well known from that category, if not his entire
catalog. His jagged, angular brushstrokes, acidic colors, and
elongated forms all charge the street atmosphere on the
canvas and achieve something very rebellious for its time and
exemplify the stylistic break with tradition that the members
of Die Brücke sought. As a founding member of the group,
Kirchner set out to establish a new order of painting, one that
visibly renounced Impressionistic tendencies and the need to
accurately portray figurative forms. In Street, Berlin, Kirchner
created a stunningly askew rendition of an alienated, urban
street procession. Without regard for realistic depiction of
form, he bent and contorted his narrow figures like they were
blades of grass in a meadow. Another uniquely modern feature
of Street, Berlin was Kirchner's choice to position two
prostitutes (identifiable by their signature plumed hats) as the
painting's (somewhat off-center) focal point.
Street, Berlin (1913)
Artist: Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner
Oil on canvas - The Museum
of Modern Art, New York

27. Artwork description & Analysis: A founding
member of Die Brücke, Heckel experimented
widely with woodblock printing, a favorite
medium of many Expressionists, and was
originally attracted to the technique for its raw
emotionalism and stark aesthetic, as well as its
traditional German heritage. While many of his
works depict nudes and scenes of city life,
Heckel takes up a more introspective subject in
this somber self-portrait from 1919. The
figure's drawn face, distorted jaw, and weary
eyes, which seem to gaze distractedly into the
distance, highlight the individual's spiritual,
psychological, and physical fatigue. Rather
than create a naturalistic self-portrait, Heckel
indicates the general spirit of his time and the
national weariness of his age, common themes
in Expressionist art.
Portrait of a Man (1919)
Artist: Erich Heckel
Woodcut - Museum of Modern Art,
New York

28. Artwork description & Analysis: Soutine painted
two known versions of Mad Woman (using a
different woman for each), and this was
unquestionably the darkest of the pair. His
violent brushstrokes and contorted lines
communicate an almost unnerving tension, but
nevertheless do not deny his subject a rich
depth of character. Soutine invited viewers to
observe the subject closely, to gaze into her
eyes and study her asymmetrical face and form.
In many ways, this painting embodies the
essence of the Expressionist style; Mad Woman
visibly vibrates, contorts, shifts, pushes, and
pulls, providing the viewer with Soutine's vision
of the inner torment of his sitter. In part, it
redefined the genre of portrait painting. Simply
by painting this mysterious (and possibly
dangerous) woman up close rather than from a
distance, Soutine established himself as an
empathetic figure, but also as a daring
visionary.
Mad Woman (1920)
Artist: Chaim Soutine
Oil on canvas - National Museum of
Western Art, Tokyo

29. Artwork description & Analysis: Schiele, one
of the central figures of Austrian
Expressionism, is known for his jarring and
oftentimes grotesque renderings of overt
sexuality. Here, Schiele draws his wife, Edith
Schiele, partially dressed, her body
contorted in an unnatural position. Her bold
and intense expression assertively confronts
the viewer and directly contradicts the
artistic standards of passive feminine
beauty. Although unabashedly controversial
throughout his lifetime, Schiele was
recognized for his skilled draftsmanship and
his use of sinewy lines to evoke the
decadence and debauchery of modern
Austria. The emotive quality of Schiele's
line-work and color firmly places him in the
Expressionist movement. He rendered
images as he interpreted them, not as they
appeared to the outside world.
Sitting Woman with Legs Drawn Up (1917)
Artist: Egon Schiele
Oil on canvas - National Gallery, Prague

30. Cubism
Birth: Cubism developed in a period of rapid
innovation between Picasso and Braque
building upon the ideas of Cézanne.
Ideas: The approach was a radical break and
offered a new way of describing space, volume
and mass with new pictorial devices. More
generally, it pointed new paths towards
abstract art, and suggested ways of describing
life in the modern urban world. It abandoned
perspective and realistic modeling -
representing bodies in small, tilted planes, set
in a shallow space. Following the examples of
Picasso and Braque, the Salon Cubists used
these innovations to create many interesting
effects.
"Cubism is like standing at a
certain point on a mountain
and looking around. If you
go higher, things will look
different; if you go lower,
again they will look
different. It is a point of
view."

32. Artwork description & Analysis: In this
painting, Braque shows the influence of
Picasso's Les Demoiselles of the previous year
and the work of Paul Cézanne. From Cézanne,
he adapted the uni-directional, uniform
brushwork, and flat spacing, while from
Picasso he took the radical simplification of
form and use of geometric shapes to define
objects. There is, for example, no horizon line
and no use of traditional shading to add depth
to objects, so that the houses and the
landscape all seem to overlap and to occupy
the foreground of the picture plane. As a
whole, this work made obvious his allegiance
to Picasso's experiments and led to their
collaboration.
Houses at L'Estaque (1908)
Artist: Georges Braque
Oil on Canvas - Hermann and Margrit
Rupf Foundation, Bern

33. Violin and Palette (1909)
Artist: Georges Braque
Artwork description & Analysis: By 1909, Picasso and Braque
were collaborating, painting largely interior scenes that
included references to music, such as musical instruments or
sheet music. In this early example of Analytic Cubism, Braque
was experimenting further with shallow spacing by reducing
the color palette to neutral browns and grays that further
flatten out the space. The piece is also indicative of Braque's
attempts to show the same item from different points of view.
Some shading is used to create an impression of bas-relief
with the various geometric shapes seeming to overlap slightly.
Musical instruments such as guitars, violins, and clarinets
show up frequently in Cubist paintings, particularly in the
works of Braque who trained as a musician. By relying on such
repeated subject matter, the works also encourage the viewer
to concentrate on the stylistic innovations of Cubism rather
than on the specificity of the subject matter.
Oil on Canvas - Guggenheim, New York

34. GEORGES BRAQUE (1882-1963)
'Violin and Jug', 1910 (oil on canvas)

37. THANK YOU
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
HAJEE MOHAMMAD DANESH SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, DINAJPUR 5200