Assignment # 5

              A group of artists that led by Claude Monet between 1870 and 1880 were labeled as Impressionists because of their paintings style.  These Impressionists put more focus on the realistic scenes that what the eye sees. Therefore, they portrayed the contemporary life through their direct observation outdoors.  You can see the artists gave more emphasis on color than lines of what they portrayed; they liked to use small brushstrokes as well. Scenes were usually painted with different main subjects such as seasons, atmospheric conditions and so on.   Gradually, Impressionists were more like to depict outdoor leisure activities of the middle-class people. In Post-Impressionism period, the artists had different opinions about Impressionism so they created their own painting styles based on it.  In the paintings, the viewer could see much more personal expression and some innovative formal structure. Post-Impressionists still used strong colors, brushstrokes, ordinary subject matter. However, they developed the use of geometric forms and abnormal colors, and were not concerned with the appearance of their subject matter. 

                Claude Monet was born in France and he was a leader of French Impressionist painting.  One of his favorite models in his paintings was boat.  In Boating On The River (Epte:1887) , the long oar Monet depicts plays an important role. It divides diagonally the entire composition of the painting, and also shortens the distance between the boat and the viewer.  The wavy lines seem to be gentle; however, they reflect the strength of the oar.   Rather than focus on the two ladies’ drama, Monet seems to pay more attention to the description of the foreground.  We can see how he uses the pure color to show us the vibrancy in his work.  The blue of the flowers and the green of the leaves that contrast with the dark green let the boating get rid of tedium and at the same time, the picture becomes more attractive and lifelike.   

               Paul Gauguin was considered as a spiritual leader in Post-Impressionism because his paintings express emotion and feeling in a modern way and he was more interested in the inner vision than the external elements. In Nevermore we can see the naked woman lying on the bed in an awkward way and her right hip is distorted simultaneously she opens her eyes but does not have any eye contact with us. I think there are two explanations for what she’s doing.  One is that the woman is not sleeping but more likely to pretend to be asleep and listening attentively to the conversation of two women behind her.  Another one is she might be immersing in her own fancy so the bird and the two figures in the background are not real. In contrast to the colors of background, Monet uses the strong yellow to depict the woman’s body to show her curves and further attract the viewer’s attention.