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This is a Clilstore unit. You can link all words to dictionaries.

19th century painting: Impressionism and Post-Impressionism

 

 Make an Impression

and a

Post-Impression 

Subject: Art History    Language: English    Level: 2nd Baccalaureate in Humanities     Trimester: 3rd     Lessons: 3 (55' min each)

 

 

LESSON 1

INTRODUCTION TO IMPRESSIONISM AND POST-IMPRESSIONISM

Art History vocabulary 

Which words come to your mind when you see this image?

The title of this painting is Impression, Sunrise. It was painted by Claude Monet in 1872 and an important fact is that it gives the name to the impressionist movement. 

In this unit, we are going to learn about Impressionism and Post-impressionism movements.

First of all, let's start by studying some Art History specific words. They will be essential in this unit.

CLICK ON THE EXERCISES BUTTON AND DO: 

 

Optional activity: to learn more vocabulary about Art History you can visit the webpage https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/1533903 where you can find a glossary and also activities to practice vocabulary. 

 

What is Impressionism?

Impressionism is defined as a school of late 19th century French painters who pictured appearances by strokes of unmixed colors to give the impression of reflected light.

WATCH THE FOLLOWING VIDEO ABOUT IMPRESSIONISM UNTIL MINUTE 5:38

 

CLICK ON THE EXERCISES BUTTON AND DO: 

It might be necessary to watch the video again in order to look for the information required to complete the exercises.

 

And...What about Post-Impressionism?

Let's focus now on Post-impressionism. READ THE FOLLOWING TEXT (remember that you can click on the words to check their meaning in the dictionary):

Post-Impressionism is an art movement that developed in the 1890s. It is characterized by a subjective approach to painting, as artists opted to evoke emotion rather than realism in their work. While their styles, therefore, wildly varied, paintings completed in the Post-Impressionist manner share some similar qualities. These include symbolic motifs, unnatural color, and painterly brushstrokes.

 

Paul Gauguin, Yellow Christ (1889)

Defining Characteristics

EMOTIONAL SYMBOLISM

Post-Impressionists believed that a work of art should not revolve around style, process, or aesthetic approach. Instead, it should place emphasis on symbolism, communicating messages from the artist's own subconscious. Rather than employ subject matter as a visual tool or means to an end, Post-Impressionists perceived it as a way to convey feelings. According to Paul Cézanne, “a work of art which did not begin in emotion is not a work of art.”

EVOCATIVE COLOR

“Color! What a deep and mysterious language, the language of dreams.” -Paul Gauguin.

Unlike the Impressionists who strived to capture natural light's effect on tonality, Post-Impressionists purposely employed an artificial color palette as a way to portray their emotion-drive perceptions of the world around them. Saturated hues, multicolored shadows, and rich ranges of color are evident in most Post-Impressionist paintings, proving the artists' innovative and imaginative approach to representation.

DISTINCTIVE BRUSHSTROKES 

Like works completed in the Impressionist style, most Post-Impressionist pieces feature discernible, broad brushstrokes. In addition to adding texture and a sense of depth to a work of art, these marks also point to the painterly qualities of the piece, making it clear that it is not intended to be a realistic representation of its subject.

POINTILLISM

Pioneered by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, Pointillism is a painting technique that employs small, colorful dots that work together to create a cohesive composition. Though inspired by the dappled brushstrokes of Impressionism, Pointillism depicts the focus on flatness and formality evident in many Post-Impressionist pieces. Seurat and Signac introduced the method in 1886 and continued working in this style throughout the entirety of their careers.

JAPONISME

Similar to the ways in which Impressionist artists found aesthetic inspiration in Japanese art's use of perspective and treatment of color, Post-Impressionists—namely, Vincent van Gogh—emulated and even imitated ukiyo-e prints in their work. In some pieces, like Flowering Plum Tree (after Hiroshige) and The Bridge in the Rain (after Hiroshige), van Gogh replicates well-known works of art. In others, like Portrait of Père Tanguy, he simply employs Japanese art as an accent.

Van Gogh admired Japanese art for the emotional impact and philosophical qualities of its content. “When we study Japanese art, we see a man who is no doubt wise, philosophical and intelligent. And how does he spend his time?” he asks in a letter to his brother, Theo, in 1888.

Vincent van Gogh, Portrait Of Père Tanguy (1887) 

PRIMITIVISM 

Though a “primitive” aesthetic has been used by artists across many movements, it is most closely associated with two genres of art: Post-Impressionism and, later, Cubism.

Post-Impressionist artists like Paul Gauguin and Henri Rousseau pioneered the modern art approach with pieces like Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? and The Sleeping Gypsy, respectively. These pieces exhibit the two main qualities of Primitivism—an interest in non-Western subject matter and a naive style of painting—and also capture the artists' interest in emotional and even dream-like subject matter.

 

Comparing Impressionism and Post-Impressionism

You already know about the main characteristics of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.

CLICK ON THE DIAGRAM BUTTON AND CLASSIFY THE CHARACTERISTICS OF EACH MOVEMENT

 

 

LESSON 2

VINCENT VAN GOGH

Vincent van Gogh is one of the most representative painters of the Post-impressionism and the most influential 20th century painter. Now we are going to learn about his artwork and his life.  

Van Gogh's artwork

READ THE FOLLOWING TEXT:

Vincent van Gogh completed more than 2,100 works, consisting of 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300 watercolors, drawings and sketches. Its work contributed to the foundations of modern art.

Style

Van Gogh's paintings are characterized by bold colors and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork. 

His early works, mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant laborers, contain few signs of the vivid color that distinguished his later work; at the beginning of his career, he made use of darker colors. As his work developed he created a new approach to still lifes and local landscapes.

When he moved to Paris in 1886 and met other painters such as Monet, Renoir and Pissarro his works became more adventurous in their use of color and he also adopted a pointillist approach; he moved from the dark to the color. Then, he was influenced by Japanese fashion. His paintings grew brighter in color as he developed a style that became fully realized during his stay in Arles in the south of France in 1888. During this period he broadened his subject matter to include series of olive trees, wheat fields and sunflowers.

Some of his best works were painted at the end of his life when he suffered from a complete mental breakdown.

                              

Vincent van Gogh, The Potato Eaters (1885)              Vincent van Gogh, Wheatfield with Crows (1890)

A few of van Gogh’s most well-known artworks include:

The Starry Night 

Van Gogh painted "The Starry Night" in the asylum where he was staying in Saint-Rémy, France, in 1889, the year before his death. A combination of imagination, memory, emotion and observation, the oil painting on canvas depicts an expressive swirling night sky and a sleeping village, with a large flame-like cypress, thought to represent the bridge between life and death, looming in the foreground. The painting is currently housed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY. 

Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night (1889)

Sunflowers

Van Gogh painted two series of still life paintings of sunflowers in Arles, France: four between August and September 1888 and one in January 1889; the versions and replicas are debated among art historians. The oil paintings on canvas, which depict wilting yellow sunflowers in a vase, are now displayed at museums in London, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Munich and Philadelphia.

Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers (1888-1889)

Self-portraits

Over the course of 10 years, van Gogh created more than 43 self-portraits as both paintings and drawings. The works are now displayed in museums around the world, including in Washington, D.C., Paris, New York and Amsterdam.

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait (1887)

 

EXPRESS PAST POSSIBILITY

The most comprehensive primary source on Van Gogh is the correspondence between him and his younger brother, Theo. In these letters, Van Gogh sometimes wrote to his brother about his artwork. Below, you have some quotes from the letters written by Van Gogh. Try to associate each quote with one of his paintings. 

In order to express possibility in the past, use the modal verb 'might' plus present perfect. You can start the sentence as:

In this quote, Van Gogh might have referred to...

Quotes:

“This morning I saw the countryside from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big" 

"I am looking for a deeper likeness than that obtained by a photographer" 

"My studio is not so bad, especially as I have pinned a lot of little Japanese prints on the wall, which amuse me very much

"The people here instinctively wear the most beautiful blue... when this fades and becomes somewhat discolored by the wind and weather, it is an infinite delicate tone that particularly brings out the flesh colors

"But what a beautiful land and what beautiful blue and what a sun. And yet I’ve only seen the garden and what I can make out through the window" 

Paintings:

- Hospital in Arles

- Portrait of Père Tanguy

- Portraits

- The Starry Night

- The Potato Eaters

 

Van Gogh's life 

WRITE A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF VINCENT VAN GOGH

Here are some questions that might serve you as a guide for the writing (about 250 hundred words). 

Use the following websites to look for information about Van Gogh's life: 

 

 

LESSON 3

DESCRIBING AND PAINTING

Describing Van Gogh's paintings 

DESCRIBE THE FOLLOWING PAINTING 

For it, you can use the substitution table below. You can also download it by clicking on the substitution table button.

 

Vincent van Gogh, Bedroom in Arles (1888)

 

 

IN PAIRS, DESCRIBE AND PAINT

Now you are the artist! 

Choose one of Van Gogh's paintings and describe it to your partner. He or she will have to draw and paint it following your instructions. It is recommended to choose a simple painting with a few elements or a central element. Some good choices can be Van Gogh's Chair, The Yellow House, Sunflowers or a portrait. 

In this website, you can find a gallery of Van Gogh's paintings http://www.vggallery.com/painting/main_az.htm 

Or you can download the App Touch Van Gogh to view the paintings in more detail https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/app-touch-van-gogh  

When your partner finishes painting, show him or her the original painting.

 

Art in the age of Instagram 

WATCH THE FOLLOWING VIDEO ABOUT ART IN TODAY'S SOCIETY

 

   

In the video, Van Gogh's self-portraits are compared with today's selfies, Monet's landscapes with our pictures of sunsets and sunrises posted on Instagram, Cezanne's paintings of food and apples with "food porn" on Instagram.

Do you think the experience of going to a museum is comparable to watching pictures on Instagram?

Are cameras impeding us experiencing an object or, on the contrary, the value of an object increases when it is shared on the Internet?

 

Final Project 

MAKE A PRESENTATION IN GROUPS OF THREE

Choose a painting from Impressionism or Post-impressionism movements. Briefly explain:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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