Impressionist Masterpieces: Exploring Light, Color, and Everyday Life
The Terrace of the Night
In this painting, Van Gogh expressed his newfound impressions of southern France. The café depicted is located in the city of Arles. Van Gogh presents an elegant café on the Place du Forum, in the heart of Arles. The warm glow of gas lamps and stars illuminates the scene, particularly the terrace where we observe small tables and chairs occupied by customers and a waitress. On the street, shrouded in more gloom, several figures walk by. The painter meticulously details the terrace and its occupants using loose brushwork, capturing the essence without getting lost in minute details, reminiscent of the style Goya had exhibited some 80 years earlier. The paving stones are depicted with short brushstrokes in the form of commas, a characteristic feature of much of his work. The shadows are rendered in purple hues, echoing the lighting concepts of Impressionism. The composition is filled with Vincent’s beloved blues and yellows, reflecting the joy that permeates the spirit of the artist who eagerly awaits Gauguin’s arrival to establish an artists’ society in the Yellow House.
Starry Night
This renowned painting is one of Vincent’s most powerful and evocative works. Few pieces have captured the essence of nature as intensely as this one. Vincent, confined to the Saint-Remy asylum since May 1889, depicts the view from his window. The night had always captivated him – as seen in his earlier work, The Night Café – particularly because it offered a different kind of light than what had been traditionally used. The treatment of starlight is remarkable, with each star depicted as a point of light surrounded by a halo, achieved through one of the most distinctive techniques in the history of painting: an outline based on spirals that dominate the sky. In the foreground, cypress trees stand tall, inspired by Seurat and Japanese prints. The background reveals the silhouette of a town with a towering church spire presiding over the scene. The contours of the buildings are marked with thick lines in dark tones, similar to the mountains, resembling the cloisonné technique employed by Gauguin and Bernard. Van Gogh uses colors that are characteristic of his works from the spring of 1889: mauve, purple, and yellow reflect the artist’s euphoric mood, yet seem to foreshadow the severe relapse he would experience in July.
Impression, Rising Sun
In 19th-century France, the only exhibition opportunity for painters was the Paris Salon, associated with the School of Fine Arts, which had a distinguished jury that selected the submitted works. The scandal of 1863 – with the rejection of Manet’s Breakfast on the Grass – led to the creation of the Salon des Refusés (Salon of the Rejected), which gained more popularity among young artists seeking to exhibit modern works outside the official channels. The painters who gathered at the Café Guerbois around Manet decided to establish an alternative exhibition space where all independent artists could showcase their works. This led to the First Impressionist Exhibition, held between April 15 and May 15 in rooms lent to them by the photographer Nadar.
The painting is a cascade of loose brushstrokes that convey a sense of spontaneous improvisation. The artist is not concerned with detail, as evidenced by the boats rendered in black or the backgrounds resolved with nervous strokes of gray, but rather with capturing the essence of a specific moment. The sensation of water movement is masterfully achieved through the translation of discontinuous brushstrokes on the surface and the orange glow of the sun, which prevents a strictly linear projection.
Luncheon of the Boating Party
Renoir, like his fellow Impressionists, was drawn to scenes of daily life. Luncheon of the Boating Party is a vibrant depiction of a leisurely afternoon spent at the Maison Fournaise restaurant on the banks of the Seine River in Chatou. Renoir captures the light, the atmosphere, and the camaraderie of the group with remarkable skill. The composition is dynamic, with figures engaged in conversation and enjoying their surroundings. The play of light and shadow creates a sense of depth and movement, while the loose brushstrokes and bright colors evoke the warmth and vitality of the scene.
Characteristics of Impressionism
- Taste of the landscape: The widespread practice of landscape painting among Impressionists led to significant consequences, such as the definitive adoption of “plein air” painting (outdoors) and a focus on the most ephemeral and fleeting aspects of nature – the sea, the sky, clouds, and sunlight.
- Realism: Capturing slices of life, attempting to depict the visible world as it is seen, including its transience.
- Color: Impressionists embraced the theories of light decomposition through a prismatic space. They painted with pure colors, mixing them directly on the canvas using a subtle technique of primary and complementary colors, allowing the viewer’s eye to generate the resulting color. This resulted in a palette of bright, luminous hues, essential for outdoor painting.
- Drawing of lesser importance: In traditional painting, drawing served primarily to define shapes and establish volume. However, these aspects were of less concern to Impressionist painters, as they focused on capturing the changing, fleeting qualities of light, which sometimes resulted in forms appearing blurred or indistinct.
- Loose brushstrokes: Rapid, almost careless brushstrokes, with varying density and length, translate the vibrations of the atmosphere, which was the primary subject of interest for Impressionists.
- Light: Following Constable’s theories, Impressionists believed that objects are only visible insofar as light strikes them. They studied color as a form of light and painted with bright, interwoven hues.
- Influences: Two major influences on Impressionism were photography and Japanese prints.