The Impressionists of Paris
Impressionism originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s.
The First Impressionist Exhibition was held by artists who had been rejected by the official Paris Salon.
Their first exhibition was held in April 1874. Impressionism was characterised by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject matter, unusual visual angles, and inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience.
It’s leading exponents included the artists Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Camille Pizarro, Piere – August Renoir and Edgar Degas
Post Impressionism:
During the 1880s several artists began to develop different precepts for the use of colour, pattern, form, and line, derived from the Impressionist example. They included Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
These artists were slightly younger than the Impressionists, and their work is known as post-Impressionism. These artists reacted against the Impressionists’ concern with realistically reproducing the optical sensations of light and colour; they turned instead toward symbolic content and the expression of emotion.
Post-Impressionism prefigured the characteristics of Futurism and Cubism, reflecting the change of attitude towards art in European society.Some of the original Impressionist artists also ventured into this new territory; Camille Pissarro briefly painted in a pointillist manner, and even Monet abandoned strict plein air painting.
Paul Cézanne, who participated in the first and third Impressionist exhibitions, developed a highly individual vision emphasising pictorial structure, and he is more often called a post-Impressionist.
Musee d’Orsay:
Works by the biggest and best names in Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art can be viewed at Musee dOrsay .
Located in one of Paris’ giant old railway terminals, this museum has a spectacular setting .
Also featured are fabulous decorative collections too of Art Nouveau glamour – the movement was embraced in Paris as it was in other great European cities
Before it became a world-leading art gallery, the Musée d’Orsay station had become the world’s first electrified train station. But it couldn’t accommodate the ever-increasing size of trains, leading the French government to the ingenious idea to fill it with art instead.
Musee Rodin:
The famous sculptor François Auguste Rodin is generally considered the founder of modern sculpture.
While living in the Villa des Brillants, in Paris ,Rodin used the Hôtel Biron as his workshop from 1908, and subsequently donated his entire collection of sculptures – along with paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir that he had acquired – to the French State on the condition that they turn the buildings into a museum dedicated to his works.
The Musée Rodin contains most of Rodin’s significant creations, including The Thinker, The Kissand The Gates of Hell. Many of his sculptures are displayed in the museum’s extensive garden.
Additionally, the nearby Métro stop, Varenne, features some of Rodin’s sculptures on the platform.
The Modernists of Montparnasse:
In the 1920s a new generation of modernists artist would call Paris home . and revolutionise once more the Paris art world with “wild”, multi-colored, expressive landscapes and figure paintings Among them were Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Kandinsky, Chagall, Giacometti and Modgliani. They all all frequented the bars and cafes of Montparnasse helping to develop its artistic and bohemian character still here today.
Destination: France
