An Essay On The Post-impressionists

What do you understand by the term 'post-impressionism' and what common themes or ideological stances underpinned the apparent diversity of the movement?

In this essay I shall argue that the term 'post-impressionism' is epitomised by four artists: Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin. I will describe the main themes of their works: dissatisfaction with Impressionist endgame, individuality of style and content and the Japanese influence and subsequently compare their ideological stances to discover whether these can be seen to constitute that of a well-defined movement. I believe much of my understanding of 'post-impressionism' is applicable to many artists of roughly the same time period (i.e. 1880 - 1910) though it would be near impossible to draw an exact conclusion of who might qualify and to what degree.

Art historians may well disagree over who could have been a 'post-impressionist', as it was not a self-defined movement. The art critic Roger Fry coined the term for his 1910 exhibition Manet and the Post-Impressionists, which displayed van Gogh, Seurat, Cézanne, Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and others of likewise subversive nature (Denvir, 1992). A later exhibition under a similar name at the Royal Academy in 1979 displayed such a variety of artists that Bernard Denvir (1992) claims in applying the term 'post-impressionism' it becomes meaningless, with which I am inclined to agree. His solution to this is to use the term as a merely chronological one, whilst excluding van Gogh and Cézanne as "too great to be confined within the category of Post-Impressionism" (ibid.). However this seems to imply that the movement of 'post-impressionism' is not the greatest achievement of this period, or at least is not worthy of being ascribed to such artists' work, which I think is to undervalue the contributions to the movement as lesser artwork. Moreover, a large proportion of the artists mentioned as 'post-impressionists' by Denvir are already part of other self-defined movements, for example, Anquetin of the Cloisonnists, Vuillard of the Nabis and Bernard of the Synthetists (ibid.). Thus his solution does not seem particularly attractive. I am more inclined to agree with Clive Bell (1931), who says of van Gogh, Cézanne, Gauguin and Seurat: "they are certainly the corner-stones of a new movement which, under the non-committal name of post-Impressionism, was to dominate the first years of the new century". While Gauguin and Seurat did belong to other movements, their contributions were significantly unique and revolutionary that they qualify for the same status as van Gogh and Cézanne. Indeed the only logical definition of 'post-impressionism' must include these great artists as their similarities are profound.

'Post-impressionism' is really a collective term for the various ideals sprung from a feeling of dissatisfaction with the Impressionist's method of painting nature. This can be seen as being the first, fundamental theme of 'post-impressionism'. As Gombrich (1978) says, the Impressionists' aim was not dissimilar to that of the neo-Classicism of the academies in that they wished to paint purely that which they saw, whether the content be an idealised composition or a natural one. However this was not true of some then-Impressionists and of the younger generation beginning to learn of the state of art. For example, Cézanne was not impressed by the sacrifice made to the forms in Impressionists' work, and was equally unsatisfied by the illusory quality of academic art, giving him reason to explore new possibilities, famously hoping to "make of Impressionism something solid and durable" (Harris, 1982). Van Gogh and Gauguin both developed their own styles naturally, influenced largely by Émile Bernard (Rapetti, 2000) (Nordenfalk, 1953). Van Gogh's rejection of Impressionism came about after spending two years living a bohemian life in Paris. Having gotten sick of the "jealousy and intrigue" of the evolving art world, he travelled south to Arles, where he hoped to create an artist's colony which would help discover the art of the future (Nordenfalk, 1953). Although Seurat's conclusion was, contrarily, to improve upon Impressionism, creating neo-Impressionism, he nevertheless was unsatisfied with the state of art at the time, feeling the need to create a form of art in which the problem of rendering one's inspiration onto canvas had a given solution, as Gombrich (1978) says, he "tackled the problem like a mathematical equation".

While the first theme may be applicable to too many artists of the time to constitute a movement, the next will truly pin down a necessity to my understanding of the term. This theme is individuality of style and content. Van Gogh created work under his own diction, predominantly self-taught with a brief period of Impressionist instruction. From the beginnings of his artistic development, van Gogh displayed his feelings about the subject matter through his palette and application of paint (or other medium), often painting scenes of poverty as seen in his The Bearers of the Burden (Nordenfalk, 1953: 25). In this, the harsh modelling and rough textures represent the suffering felt by the workers, and van Gogh's sincere sympathies with their plight. Van Gogh had an initial inclination to using thickly applied and intense colours, only briefly being converted to the Impressionist's airy tones and light dabs of paint before re-introducing his own style, his work becoming increasingly and wildly expressive towards the tumultuous end of his life. Such a combination of Impressionist influence with his own passion can be seen in his Starry Night (vangoghgallery.com) in which he uses the light strokes of Impressionist style to create a whirling sky and bring to life the deep, shadowy shapes of the composition. The Impressionists were purely of the objective persuasion, not wanting to put themselves into their painting so van Gogh was one of the first ever to make art a personal subject. This particular form of individuality was shared by Gauguin, as Denvir (1992) says Gauguin was "more concerned with expressing emotion and feelings than with recording, however exquisitely, natural phenomena". While Gauguin was taught to paint in an Impressionist style early on in his career, evolving with the times to incorporate Divisionism, he soon developed his own style of painting. Between the years of 1883 and 1887 he started to come up with ideas of 'synthesis', opposing Impressionist plein-air painting by using multiple sources to create one work. His ideas, channelled and informed by the influences of Bernard and van Gogh, progressed into a unique style of exaggerated, and often heated, colours whose contrasts rendered discreet forms, as epitomised by his late Tahitian paintings, such as Nave nave mahana (Rapetti, 2000). What was really individual about his choice of content was its primitive and "barbaric" disposition, which was shocking to the public at the time (Denvir, 1992). Seurat, being rather inspired by Impressionism than disappointed, studied the scientific theories of colour, propounded by Chevreul and Rood. From this, he extrapolated that the colour in a painting could retain the intensity of each base colour through painting in dots, the colours mixing in the eye - the first man ever to do so. His la Grande Jatte (Gombrich, 1978) is the most famous work of his, being the first notable painting in his new style, which succeeded in vibrancy and resonance (ibid.). Cézanne also contrived to do something no one else had done - moderate the Impressionist style until tangible, intense forms were again of consequence. To do this, he painted with a loose hand and powerful colours, giving import to every detail of the piece to give it an internal reality. It seems that Cézanne was very preoccupied with a Romantic desperation on the one hand, and yet a controlled perfectionism on the other. His famous fruit bowls, for instance Still Life with Apples (Harris, 1982), were of the latter calibre, representing nature subjectively and without illusionism. Other paintings, such as Medea (after Delacroix) and The Murder (Harris, 1982), show twisted scenes of dark tones and wild modelling, through which Cézanne shows his unique capabilities of expression. Almost a sub-theme of this individuality is the aim of creating a New Art in which form and structure are not lost in the Impressionist way, but also without resorting to classical ideals. Although Cézanne made this his main tenet of investigation, others also took it on inadvertently. Gauguin's explorations of form involved flattening them and giving them definite outlines to separate them from other forms, as in Gathering Grapes at Arles: Human Misery (Rapetti, 2000). Although this was a different exploration of modelling, it nevertheless was a rejection of the Impressionist method of merely suggesting form. Though Seurat had not been so disappointed with the Impressionist ideals and methods and didn't see the problems of form and structure, the following he inspired through the neo-Impressionists was of indubitable importance to modern art, and so a 'post-impressionist' he remains.

A further theme of post-impressionist art is the influence and incorporation of Japanese styles. Van Gogh was strongly influenced by the Japanese prints, copying some and incorporating others into his paintings. He also decorated his room in the Yellow House with coloured wood-engravings (Denvir, 1992). Gombrich (1978) says that van Gogh wanted his own works to have the same direct and strong effect as the Japanese prints - the clearness and clarity being the main attraction with the flat spaces of colour being unnatural to almost all Europeans (Denvir, 1992). Gauguin was also inspired by the wood-engravings, showing signs of Japanese influence in his own carvings (Denvir, 1992).

In terms of ideological stances, the most persuasive similarities are those of VG, G and C, who were all seemingly left wing. All the 'post-impressionists' were in a way anti-bourgeois in their rejection of Impressionist values. While he undoubtedly experimented with ideals, his own seemed innately found, as seen in his steadfast religious beliefs (Nordenfalk, 1953). Van Gogh's ideals were mostly religious ones, his personal motto being ora et labora, to be taken as literally meaning "prayer before work" (Nordenfalk, 1953). He showed signs of disagreement with the academic needs of the church, though he fervently believed in its value. Since his strongest sympathies lay with the poor and downtrodden, painting many harrowing Realist pieces such as The Potato Eaters (Nordenfalk, 1953), this suggests a left wing tendency. In Cézanne's similarly "wild . reputation" (Harris, 1982), and longing to shock the establishment, a left-wing inclination could also be contrived. Gauguin's motivation was a desire to "go back to nature", to reconcile humans with the wilds of their ancestry rather than placing models into a contrived scene. This desire arose from Gauguin's socio-political outlook, being that of a seemingly lonely left wing revolutionary in an otherwise bourgeois society, specifically the hierarchy emphasised by the art-world in that society (Gombrich, 1978). The ideals of Seurat were much clearer, in his study of scientific principles of colour and light and scientific analysis of the work to be painted, Seurat aimed to remove the chance quality of the Impressionists works (Denvir, 1992). His methodic aims can be thought of as making painting an accessible endeavour, removing the difficulties of choosing the way to express oneself, and therefore paving the way for an equality-ridden future (Bell, 1931). Therefore, while van Gogh and Cézanne's real political outlook may be difficult to find, what is certain is that all four artists shared a distaste for societal discourse in general, the first 3 in particular worked on their personal quests alone and with no hope of recognition (Gombrich, 1978).

In conclusion, the four artists discussed share an individuality and originality of such radical force that they cannot but be considered the most important artists subsequent to the Impressionist movement. While there are many other variations upon each of their styles, these lack a certain honesty and personality that is characteristic of the four true 'post-impressionists'.