IMPRESSIONISM
❚A hostile critic applied the term Impressionismto the paintings of Claude Monet because of their
sketchy quality. The Impressionists—Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, and others—
strove to capture fleeting moments and transient effects of light and climate on canvas. Monet,
for example, repeatedly painted Rouen Cathedral at different times of day.
❚The Impressionists also focused on recording the contemporary urban scene in Paris. They
frequently painted bars, dance halls, the ballet, wide boulevards, and railroad stations.
❚Complementing the Impressionists’ sketchy, seemingly spontaneous brush strokes are the compo-
sitions of their paintings. Reflecting the influence of Japanese prints and photography, Impressionist
works often have arbitrarily cut-off figures and settings seen at sharply oblique angles.
POST-IMPRESSIONISM
❚Post-Impressionism is not a unified style. The term refers to the group of late-19th-century artists
who followed the Impressionists and took painting in new directions.
❚Georges Seurat refined the Impressionist approach to color and light into pointillism—the disci-
plined application of pure color in tiny daubs that become recognizable forms only when seen
from a distance. Vincent van Gogh explored the capabilities of colors and distorted forms to ex-
press emotions, as in his dramatic depiction of the sky in Starry Night. Paul Gauguin, another
admirer of Japanese prints, moved away from Impressionism in favor of large areas of flat color
bounded by firm lines. Paul Cézanne replaced the transitory visual effects of the Impressionists
with a rigorous analysis of the lines, planes, and colors that make up landscapes and still lifes.
SYMBOLISM
❚The Symbolists disdained Realism as trivial and sought to depict a reality beyond that of the
everyday world. They rejected materialism and celebrated fantasy and imagination. Their subjects
were often mysterious, exotic, and sensuous.
❚Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon, and Henri Rousseau were the leading French Symbolists. Rousseau’s
Sleeping Gypsy,which depicts the world of the subconscious during sleep, is a characteristic
example of Symbolist painting.
SCULPTURE
❚Sculpture is not suited to capturing transitory optical effects or exploring the properties of color
and line, and late-19th-century sculptors pursued goals different from those of the Impressionists
and Post-Impressionists. The leading figure of the era was Auguste Rodin, who explored Realist
themes and the representation of movement, as in his moving portrayal of six leading citizens of
Calais who sacrificed their lives for their countrymen. He also made statues that were deliberate
fragments, creating a taste for the incomplete that appealed to many later sculptors.
ARCHITECTURE AND DECORATIVE ARTS
❚Not all artists embraced the industrialization that transformed daily life during the 19th century. The
Arts and Crafts movement in England and the international Art Nouveau style formed in opposition
to modern mass production. Both schools advocated natural forms and high-quality craftsmanship.
❚New technologies and the changing needs of industrialized society transformed Western architec-
ture in the late 19th century. The exposed iron skeleton of the Eiffel Tower, which blurs the distinc-
tion between interior and exterior, jolted architects into a realization that modern materials and
processes could revolutionize architectural design. In the United States, Henry Hobson Richardson
and Louis Sullivan were pioneers in designing the first metal, stone, and glass skyscrapers.
THE BIG PICTURE
EUROPE AND AMERICA,
1870 TO 1900
Monet, Rouen Cathedral, 1894Van Gogh,
Starry Night, 1889Rousseau, Sleeping Gypsy, 1897Rodin, Burghers of Calais,
1884–1889Eiffel, Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1889