The Birth of Impressionism and French Revolution

A vast library of exquisite and one-of-a-kind pieces intrigues the viewers as they enter the grand entrance of the Detroit Institute of Art. After several effortless flights of veined marble stairs, the partons are greeted with high ceilings, inspired by Italian renaissance architecture assuming from warm tones and luxurious decorations. Daylight illuminates the grey, milky polished concrete structure, light source coming from high-hung arched windows.

The South wing is where I begin my research as the art pieces are somewhat placed. After several pieces of medieval, early, and high renaissance art, I am greeted by Detroit Industrial Fresco, a collection of Diego Rivera’s murals showing many figures in the industrial setting; during the golden industrial age of Detroit. As I make my way into the north wing, a series of works by Impressionist artists astonishes me. The exhibition placed in the north wing’s modern section consisted of works by Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and Vincent van Gogh. All masters in their own rights, these four artists all produced their works during the late 1800s but, they all differ in style and backgrounds (DIA). Vincent van Gogh’s Self Portrait especially encaptures all my interests. A rather small piece, five by seven? So much emotion is captured in this little simple piece. Van Gogh’s signature brush strokes full of life and texture combined with light, vibrant yellow, and blue paint on, cool greyish tan background, show a distressed version of himself.

In the painting his pupils are dilated, giving off the “crazy mad hatter” eyes with an interpretation of a distasteful self. As I take a step back to admire the piece from the distance, I wondered, What gave him so much distress? What were their living conditions? How did the realism of the 19th century inspire such an expressive loose form of art? Paris, France during the late 19th century was a place of revolution (both political and artistic), a sort of avant-garde that inspired many activists to change their views and inspired others to do so as well, impressionism was an artistic revolution. Rather than art being influenced by a symbol such as notable figures or religious events.

Impressionism was one of the earliest paths into modern art as we know it (Beth). To give a brief context for understanding the birth of impressionism, 19th century Europe was not a place where art galleries were common in every city like the modern settings. Artists at the time were bound to salons where they presented their works to build their reputations and earnings. These art pieces were selected through the jury (Beth, Apart from the salon). The movement, Impressionism changed the century-old system that has been formulated. The topic of this analysis will consist of how historical events such as the French Revolution, France under the leadership of Napoleon III and the long Depression influenced the birth of Impressionism and how artists such as Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and Vincent van Gogh developed their styles coming out of the movement realism.

As mentioned earlier, Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait, 1887 showed a great deal of emotion and style. This self-portrait, painted with oil on board shows van Gogh in a traditional portraiture composition (gazing at the viewer in forty-five degrees). His brush strokes are light, expressive, and multi-dimensional. Van Gogh, rather than showing blending for smooth gradations and realistic skin tones, uses short layered strokes to give off rustic and rough yet textured and somewhat realistic impressions. The exhibition contained other pieces by Van Gogh such as The Diggers, 1889, and Bank of the Oise at Auvers, 1890. Both pieces are vibrant in color and strokes showing textural qualities and well-focused elements. Both of these pieces also contained a very supernatural expressive landscape that almost captures the spiritual essence of the surroundings. the way Van Gogh layered thick oil paints in several directions showed extreme gestural qualities and combined with lively colors gives off a very interesting composition.

These pieces however compared to the other three artists lacked atmospheric perspective and a sense of depth which gave Van Gogh’s pieces flatter but more expressive impressions. Across the exhibition, a painting by Paul Cezanne, the Three Skulls gazes towards you in a grim but bright and somewhat hollow way. Unlike Van Gogh’s style, Cezanne blends his strokes in a sketch-like manner. His subjects, three skulls are in balanced compositions where the negative spaces are even. There is a bit of chiaroscuro or dark shading around the subjects as the contour of the subjects seems darker than the background. Cezanne’s choice of color is interesting as well. Right next to The Three Skulls, the Beautiful scenery of Mont Sainte Victoire 1904 is rendered with a golden frame around it. Cezanne does not render a clear distinction between foreground and midground, but, the mountain rendered with a light, blended pastel tone in the background draws the viewer in. Cezanne shows here a somewhat hazy feel to his strokes. His way of using light strokes illustrates a bit of texture but not as much as how Van Gogh used it. An interesting constant with Cezanne’s paintings is how he gives a very slight outline to his subjects.

The grandest, piece of the exhibition was Pierre Auguste Renoir’s Seated Bather 1903. This full-body portrait shows a young red-haired female, plumb and graceful. In the foreground, she is seated on a pile of clothes gazing toward her leg wiping away some excess water from her bath. Her left hand holding her long wet scarlet hair indicates the movement of brushing her hair back. The background contains a cave-like organic feel, swirls of variances in olive green and warm brownish tones. General techniques used in this painting are very light in touch and not much texture is shown through layered paintings. Renoir unlike other impressionist pioneers uses more natural brush strokes to render his subjects. Compared to Cezanne, and Van Gogh, Renoir’s brushstrokes are not as visible however the idea of using light small strokes still applies to his works. The pile of cloth shown to the left of the subject is illustrated with light strokes to imply form, giving off minimal detail but a clear impression that the object reads to the viewer as a flaring pile of clothes.

The way Renoir rendered the subject’s skin tone is interesting as well. His use of the color pink, for light blushes of the subject, also gives life and youthfulness to his painting. The east side of the exhibition shows one of the earlier pioneers of the impressionist movement, Edgar Degas. The varieties in his works were interesting to see as well. The exhibition contained several sculptures and paintings, however, the oil on canvas painting Jockeys on Horseback Before Distant Hills 1884 and the bronze cast, Spanish Dancer 1881 sculpture depicted Degas style well. The oil painting Jockeys on Horseback Before Distant Hills portrays eight Jockeys on horseback in the foreground with colorful bloused and white jockey pants. Their details are illustrated as the subject matter is closer to the viewer in the foreground, which gives off an impression of a somewhat accurate and real-like illustration. What interested me the most was Degas’s sense of depth in his paintings. Jockeys on Horseback Before Distant Hills shows immense depth in atmospheric perspective and richness in how he places different values to imply foreshortening and depth to his painting.

For example, the mid-ground with the hill shows very painted vegetation. When stepping back, the viewer can imply that those vegetations are trees growing on top of the hill, however, viewed from a close, those impressive details are small, hazy, and loose strokes enough to suggest that those marks are trees on top of the hill. Degas’s style, may seem more detailed compared to the other three artists, however, the core idea of loose impressive strokes and subject matter may be one of the most influential styles to pioneer modern art. The first half of the 19th century consisted of revolutions, upheaval, exchange in power, and changes in a different era (first, second republic, and second empire). Napoleon III was known to many critics that were outcasted by the achievement of his uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte. His foreign affairs such as failed Crimean war, and how he rose to his power seemed very minuscule and unorthodox compared to his uncle’s legacy (Britannica).

However, Napoleon III can also be argued to be one of the more liberal and open-minded leaders of the time. Although he did try to be innocuous with his power, his domestic policies were somewhat ahead of time and innovative (Domestic Policy As Emperor, Euler). During this chaotic political state of Europe, Napoleon III plays a key role in helping the birth of Impressionism. As mentioned earlier, in Paris during the early to mid 19th century, Salon was the center of the art community where artists built their reputations and earned their livings. In the center of it all, stood The French Academy of Fine Arts or École des Beaux-Arts and Barbizon school.

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