Post-Impressionism and its impact on modern art

‘Post-Impressionism’ was the successor to the ‘Impressionist’ style of painting. The famous English art critic Roger Fry organized the first exhibition of his in London and coined the term “post-impressionism” to classify the artworks of late 19th century painters. These artists were Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin, considered the pioneers and favorites of the ‘post-impressionists’. Georges Seurat and Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec were among other painters inspired by ‘impressionism’. However, they developed their own styles to enhance and thrill through their art, thus joining the ‘post-impressionist’ club.

‘Impressionism’, as an art movement, began in France at the end of the 19th century. This style of painting concentrated on capturing the immediate mood or visual impression of a scene with living subjects, through the effects of color and light. ‘Post-Impressionist’ painters challenged the principle of objective recording of nature. They concentrated on bringing more structure, form and expression to their work in their own distinctive styles. The ‘Post-Impressionists’, like the ‘Impressionists’, used spiral brushstrokes, spot colours, and real-life subject matter, only to differ in capturing greater emotional depth. Thus, they added new dimensions to their significantly more expressive art.

The ‘Post-Impressionists’ often exhibited their art together collaboratively, but preferred to work alone. Paul Cézanne abandoned the early ‘Impressionism’ movement, as he wanted, in his words, “to make Impressionism something solid and enduring like art in the museum”. He developed an innovative style of painting that consisted of breaking down objects into their fundamental forms through gradations of pure color. His abstract style inspired the great artist Pablo Picasso to come up with the concept of ‘Cubism’.

Paul Gauguin lived in Tahiti and was inspired by rural communities and traditional life to present aesthetic art. Gauguin adapted a unique art form created by bringing the flat, exotic and sensuous color harmonies along with the heavy contour look of stained glass onto the canvas. He also dealt with manuscript illuminations, where the text of a manuscript is adorned with designs or the use of gold or silver. This gave, almost, a poetic effect to his paintings.

Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh was known as a model ‘expressionist’ painter, whose quote with smeared brushstrokes and vivid colours, elaborately reflecting emotions, earned him worldwide acclaim. Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec was another famous ‘Post-Impressionist’, known for his sinuous outlines with color schemes that contrasted with ‘Impressionism’. Georges Seurat was an expert in color theories and linear structures. He applied a technique called ‘pointillism’, in which he used small dots of contrasting color to create an elusive and illuminating impression in his paintings.

‘Post-Impressionists’ began as ‘Impressionists’ but moved away from their naturalistic approach. They ventured into unknown domains, adding emotion and symbolic meaning to their art. With their independent and unmatched styles and their dedication to adding new dimensions to artistic expressions, the ‘Post-Impressionists’ dramatically influenced modern art in the 20th century. His evolved styles inspired several new concepts, such as Cubism, Pointillism, Neo-Impressionism, and Fauvism.