The Humanistic Tradition, Book 5 Romanticism, Realism, and the Nineteenth-Century World

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Debussy, wasImpressionism. Luminosity, the interaction of
light and form, subtlety of tone, and a preoccupation with
sensation itself were the major features of Impressionist art.
Impressionist subject matter preserved the romantic fas-
cination with nature and the Realist preoccupation with
daily life. But Impressionism departed from both the
romantic effort to idealize nature and the Realist will to
record the natural world with unbiased objectivity. Often
called an art of pure sensation, Impressionism was, in part,
a response to nineteenth-century research into the physics
of light, the chemistry of paint, and the laws of optics.The
Principles of Harmony and the Contrast of Colorsby the nine-
teenth-century French chemist Michel Chevreul
(1786–1889), along with treatises on the physical proper-
ties of color and musical tone by Hermann von Helmholtz
mentioned above, offered new insights into thepsychology
of perception. These complemented the earliest appearance
of synthetic pigments, which replaced traditional earth
pigments. Of particular importance were chrome yellow,
synthetic ultramarine, viridian, and emerald green, all of
which gave the impressionists a brighter range of color.
Until the mid nineteenth century, paint was stored in a
pig’s bladder, which was tapped and resealed as paint was
needed. But the invention of the collapsible metal tube
made it possible for artists to freely transport paint to out-
door sites and store paint longer.

Monet: Pioneer Impressionist

In 1874 the French artist Claude Monet (1840–1926)

exhibited a canvas that some critics consider the first mod-

ern painting.Impression: Sunrise(Figure31.4) is patently a

seascape; but the painting says more abouthowone sees

than aboutwhatone sees. It transcribes the fleeting effects

of light and the changing atmosphere of water and air into

a tissue of small dabs and streaks of color—the

elements of pure perception. To increase luminosity, Monet

coated the raw canvas with gesso, a chalklike medium.

Then, working in the open air and using the new synthet-

ic paints, he applied brushstrokes of pure, occasionally

unmixed, color. Monet ignored the brown underglazes

artists traditionally used to build up form. Maintaining that

there were no “lines” in nature, he avoided fixed contours.

Instead of blending his colors to create a finished effect, he

placed them side by side, building up a radiant impasto. In

order to intensify visual effect, he juxtaposed complemen-

tary colors, putting touches of orange (red and yellow) next

to blue and adding bright tints of rose, pink, and vermilion.

He rejected the use of browns and blacks to create shadows;

instead, he applied colors complementary to the hue of the

object casting the shadow, thus approximating the prismat-

ic effects of light on the human eye. Monet’s canvases

capture the external envelope: the instantaneous visual

sensation of light itself.

Figure 31.4 CLAUDE MONET, Impression: Sunrise, 1873. Oil on canvas, 19^5 ⁄ 8  251 ⁄ 2 in.