ALAN BOWNESS
MODERN
EUROPEAN ART
207 illustrations, 32 in color
Re
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—
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(© 1572 Thames and Huon Lid, London
it pubised the Wed of Art Series in 1985
Publihed inthe United State of America in 1995 by
‘Thames and Hudson Inc, 500 Fh Avenue
New York, New York 116
Libary of Congress Catalog Can Number 95-0189
ISBN o-s20-202052
tion. Painting has been reduced to the coloured
[ishmsrk: this the allamporant common denomi
fate of eveything that happens on the canvas. Colout
dominates, deszoying the more solid forms and linear
ontrucons of Cézunne’s exer wotk, alone giving
Spatial deSntion to the pictre. As Cézanne told
visitor atthe end of is ite, “The main thing ina picture
isto achieve distance: I ay to render perspective solely
by means of colon
In the lam yeas before his death in x906 Cézanne
retimed to his obsession of great composition of nude
fgutes ina landscape. The subjea ive recuts constantly
throughout the history of at the vision of an ideal
world where man exists in complete harmony with
ature. The idea may detive fom folk-memory — the
Garden of Eden sory has its paralel in every culate ~
Ji PauL cEzaxné (1839-1906)
The Woman wih the Caffe Pot
6 1890-92. Oil on canes, 43"
5/2" (1305 x 965). Lown, Bare fr it may be a penonal nostalgia for a lox world
childhood which matore experience has never guse
‘matched. Cézanne indeed seems to have looked back
to days spent as a boy with his friends in the woods
around Mont Sainte Victoire as the summit of his
experience of life.
‘The memories were overlaid with erotic fantasies and
an obscure sense of guilt. In the long series of Bathers
compositions Cézanne had frst to give the etotie 4
monumental quality. This was partly achieved by
incorporating poses derived from other works of ar, and
especially from the statuary that he had copied in the
Louvre: in such a way he achieved the mote objective
approach demanded by Manet.
"eB ies ulmi ne ge pings ~
such the largest Cézanne ever did ~ of which the version
in the National Gallery in London (Ill. 32) is perha
eon teed tal oem ere 2 Peet
struggle beween the anist’s vision and the resul;
‘Ceézanne’s ever-present sense of failure was never more
acute than with the Bathers. ‘Shall I be like Moses and
dic before reaching the promised land:’ he asked shorly
before his death. As with Monet it was this constant
‘pursuit of the untealizable that sustained his career at an
intense pitch ffom beginning to end.
‘The comparison with Monet is apt, because the late
Batkers compositions, like the late Nymphéas, were fst
widely regarded as filures. Only now do we begin to
tonderstand Cézanne's striving after a representation of
some kind of symbolic union berween desire and reality,
berweer actual and ideal life. Like some ancient seer, the
‘old Cézanne seems to be on the edge of an understanding
‘of mysteries normally veiled. And he has achieved this
state through his chosen medium as 2 painter ~ colour.
Cézanne wanted to penetrate beneath appearances, and
hiscolour somehow comes to expres the depths of nature,
the roots of the world. The entire picture is alive and
caught up in some universal rhythm: it seems to be
aglow with an inner illumination.
‘Cézanne is quoted as saying, shortly before is death:
‘T sometimes imagine colours as great noumenal entities,
living ideas, beings of pure reason.’ The philosophical
terminology is stangely out of character, and perhaps,
like many of Cézanne’s quoted remarks, reflees the
questioner rather than the artist himself. But one can
to say that Cézanne, like Monet, proceeds from the
Hina to the noumenon: afer yeats of recording,
appearance of things, these artists grow close to the
thing deel which i esenilly unknown and unknow-
able In the course ofthis development their attitude to
Space changes. Cézanne and Monet both realized chat,
P Bergson claimed, we can only know space in and
through time, and that the changing contciousness of
the observer would have to be taken into account. There
jg 2 close parallel here between the painters and such
minent literary figures 2s Mallarmé and Proust
Whether one can also relate pictorial innovations to the
scientife discoveries of Einstein and Freud is mote
disputable.
“About the other «wo great impressionists, Renoir and
less need be said, not because thei painting is
inferior, but because the implications of thet work have
hhad so’ much less impact on others. Auguste Renoir
(1841-1919) was a natural painter. More than any of
the other impressionists, he could have had the easy
success of a Salon portrait painter; he must have offen
fettemped to abandon he intansget postion adopted
by his friends. He was never as deeply committed to
landscape painting in natural light as his frend Monet
was, and landscape is an important but subsidiary pare
of his euore
Renoir was essentially a painter of people, and more
specifically of tractive young women. The ffank
sensuality of his artis evident in his colou, his touch,
42 PAUL CEZANNE (1839-1906)
Bates, ¢ 1900-05. Oonconss,
6 4°34" (193 230). By com
ey ofthe Tras ofthe National
Galery, London 43 PIERRE AUGUSTE, RENOIR
(isqi-t919) Le Lage, 1874 Oil on
canvas, 31%" 23%" (80 x64).
The Courtauld Institute Galles,
London
his prefered forms, as in che subjects themselves. He was
the heir to Watteau, to Boucher and to Fragonard, whose
‘works he greatly admired, andthe existence of this bond
with the French r8th century isa reminder that at hear
Renoir was 2 taditionalis, not a revolutionary. Hi
tastes were conservative ~ Ieee from other painters, not
fiom nature — and while his fiends talked of innovation
Renoir quiedy continued what others had done before
him, ‘Thus his painting relates directly tall his immediage
predecessors ~ Ingres, Delacroix, Corot, Courbet, Man
~ in a natural, unforced way.
‘Renoir had no private means, and had to eam a living
from painting. After Salon refusals, he was one of the
‘most active organizers of the fist group-exhibition in
1874: it was very important for him that he should get
following of patrons and collectors. Yet the paintings
that he showed in 1874 hardly merit the label impression,
ists La Log (Ill. 33), for example, isa highly sophisticated
picture, appropriately for the subject. It shows what
Renoir has learnt from the Old Masters, from Titian
and Velasquez in particular, and ffom his older con-
temporaries, Manet and Degas. The palete is not the
rainbow palete of the impressioniss, but, as with early
Manet, one dominated by black and white. In fact
Renoir uses black as a definite colour, at the same time
that Monet was urging ics abolition.
ethape Renoir kth fre of hs argument, becave
afer La Loge he adopted a different palete, and began
to use cool, chalky colours. In the Moulin de la Gelete
ll. 34) a fickering light falls over the young. people
as they sitround the table on the café terrace. The modern
life subjectsmatter derives from Baudelaire, and has its
immediate precedents in Manet’scafé conversation-piecs.
But whereas Manet, like Degas, remains emotionally
removed from the subject, Renoit is a participant. The
‘Moulin de a Galette sa painting of Renoir’ friends, and it
is this peculiar intimacy that gives the picture and others
like ita human warmth and radiance that is Renoit's
mos striking quality.
To a certain extent Renoir was putting impresionist
principles into practice inthe late 1870s. He was painting
out of doors, observing the colours of shadows and
reflections, and had a particular predilection for dappled,
brokendight effects. His rapid, deft technique allowed
him to break up colours, juxtaposing complementaties,
id concentrating sometimes on the hot end, sometimes
an the cool end, ofthe specum. Bur his progress was
fever consistent; he admitted to Monet late in life chat
fre never quite knew what he was ging to do next.
Revo’ uneanis ove hit own paising reached
high pitch in 1881, Dissatisfied with the lack of public
feponse to the extly impression exhibitions, Be had
sarted showing atthe Salon again. As he told the dealer
Darand-Ruel who did what he could to help him,
“There ae hardly ffieen art loves in Pati capable of
Iiking a picture without Salon approval.’ And Renoir's
intings in the 1878 and 1879 Salons won him
immediate public support and some wealthy and power-
fal patrons whose personal friendship ar once changed
his way of life.
Trying to find a way out of his personal dilemmas,
Renoit began to travel, visiting North Affica and Italy.
The latent traditionalism in his temperament now came
cut, and he turned to Raphael, to Pompeian painting,
to Ingres as exemplars. Feeling increasingly out of
sympathy with the younger generation of artists in Pati,
and pethaps with Seurat and his followers in particular,
Renoir turned away fiom contemporary subject-matter.
‘The climactic work of this period is a large Bathers
composition (Il. 35) ~ a deliberate rejection of the art
of his time in favour of a hard, dry technique and 2
carefully composed articulation of near-sculptural forms.
‘And the whole idea of painting nymphs bathing around
2 pool seemed 2 provocative evasion to a timeless,
54. viene
(agr-1919) Moulin dle
salt,
3846. Oil on canvas, 4'4"5'9"
(131 x175)- Lowe, Peis
" 45 mibaRe aucusre. exoon
(isqiz1919) Bates, 1885-87. Oi
ncaa, 310°%5'7°(118 479).
Philadlphis Mascon of Art (Mr
gal Me Corll Spon Cab
eon)
unreal, clasical subject jus a che momert when such
painting seemed to be finally dead.
Te was scarcely surprising that, when The Bathers was
publicly exhibited in 1887. Renoit’s friends found it
disconcerting. ‘I do not understand what he is uying to
do,” Camille Pissarro wrote this son. Even Renoit
admitted that ‘everybody agred that I was really sunk,
and some said I was irresponsible.’ One imagines that
only Cézanne, who remained close to Renoir at this
time, would have had some sympathy for Renoir's
ambitions, even if the means used would certainly not
have appealed to him.
Benoit soe ot the sms of the 18805, withdrew to
agnes in the South of France among his growin
family, and seed down to paint whateve: he enjoyed
‘painting. He softened the harsh forms in is compositions,
and allowed his naturally delicate brushwork to dominate
his canvases. For a time his prefered palewe was of
cool greens and blues, often with a reais ailaccr
quality, but as he grew older so the colours became warm
and richer, until finaly hot reds and a gelden-orange
predominated.
‘Mos of the late paintings are of women, and many are
of Gabrielle, the nursemaid of the Renoir children who
became the painter’s favourite model (IIL 36). She
served as aymph and goddes jus as readily as she posed
as herself Renoir saw in her the epitome of womas. His
an is a homage to feminine qualities - gentleness, sensic
tivity, protectiveness — and’ tesimony t love and
affection, both maternal and sensval.
sg rat once obvious if one comparet Renoir with
the fourth great ingress as the oe sho
woe Renax a preference for figure subjects.
asad Degas (1824-1917) was alo obsessed with
Gee ig reatment altogether lacks the warm
nee iy of Reno’, Nor isthe detachment with
and sand draws his model the same a the
which MBive atude demanded by Manet: it sems
amos Sextremely pessonal the consequence of Degas
somefopical makeup rather than of any considered
Erste postion.
oeSition of Degas with the term impressionism
see ome difuly of defisiton. He waa imps
Fr eo fr 2s he belonged tthe group of young men
Scot ppel showing atthe Salon and arranged their
PP exhibitions between 1874 and 1886. He also,
Pei bese, lope jena: dwn fom
existence, but he was not a painter of nature.
Bee eked Mone inte io light, and neve
detloped she kind of broken brushwork and divided
aetsaren in the work of Mone, Renoit, Cézanne and
Fein even Manet. IFone has to jus using the term
frapmaionist for Degas’ paintings ic mast be on other
reunds, and in patcular because of his interes in
eepvement, of, mote explicit, in seizing that phase of @
Thovement which somehow reveals both what has passed
ae ts to become Degas’ obsson, but i had
already begon to appear in much earlier works. Consider
the Mijontnes of the City of Ores (IIL 37), curious
bi fr Salon succes in r86s, which demonstrates very
cleat how this kind of pite los its ron de a its
‘wor
36 PIERRE AUGUSTE. RENOIR
inaqr-s919) Gabriele 3b re,
git, Oo cams, 22°18
i535 %47). Lowe, Pts
{47 BDGAR DEGAS (1834-1917)
sora ft Cy 9 Ore,
Me
Paper on conoss, 210"
4 10° (85147). Lowe, Pais
a 38 EDGAR DEGAS (1834-1917)
The Belle Femily, 855-63, Oil on
canvas, 6°7" x84" (200% 253)
conventonsand assumptions were questioned by yon
ast of age neg an en Se
ceranly wanted to punt large gure compositions
ckseal or hosed subjects: Re ease 3
have the harmonious composiion and clarity oie
the Old Maser paintings tha he had studied in teh
And yet somehow everything falls apart and is une
convincing; we muy admite the Moraes of Ors
for its pars and forget what the whole is ineaded
iproa I the dealt ofthe hosemen and specs
of the fccing girls with long Bowing hair that
exactly the Degas ofthe future, Pood
Degas was painting these historical Salon pieces a
time when Mane, the disciple of Baudet, dered
such subjecrmatet, But once Degas had accepeed net
obsolescence, he moved quickly into the parting or
modem lif, He made a special study of horsexting
scenes, the depiction of moving animals offering hin he
sort of challenge that he best responded to. Again ang
again he would draw a subject, tying to aching 4
satislctory pictorial representation, Hon bat tes
‘were supported by the evidence of photography, now he
the first time available to the rest SenP
It's natural that Degas should have been intrested in
the camera, because his own early portraits represent thar
phase of naturalistic painting which comes closest ca
the photograph. In the porcit of the Blleli Family of
1859-<62(ll.38) every detalis se forth with precision, and
the composition is constructed with extreme care, Deg?
aim seems t0 be a som of stasis, an immability hee
repretents a moment fixed in time. Only a paint lve
t be so concerned with movement could paint ie
absence wih such fey. Degas went on to explo he
snapshot cféets made possible by the camen, even
before i was technically posible to uses show exposees
Figures hurrying across a square dancers rehearing, the
hhubbub in an ofce ~ such movements caughe he eye
and tempted his brush,
Degas” portraiture shows an intresting change of
emphasis, He was 2 man of private means and at noe
need tseck commissions as Renoir did: he could please
himself about his subjects. Mos ofthe potas ue in
fact of his family and ffiends; they stat as stadice oF
physiognomy, in the manner of Ingres, but the siners
environment becomes increasingly imporant for Degas
and more time tothe sting fo the
sod be oe both the Bell omy andthe Cat
5g Nv Orleans (Il. 39) are the same sor
Mie ee oie aed inthe ter one
pica armiwate ofthe kind of life the young busines”
emu ahey spend thet time, wht their working
oma Hk, who th agua ae More
than yo ad the Concours, ‘Abst (IL 40)
act gr illstation to Sova: wed mele aking
like pout che personal histories of the man an
Fee ee ihowgh exinenc wa some
oma at extended beyond this scene in the ca.
Fn ee oh sony ting tle of
Dagens comparatively shorived, though it was
Paina, contemporais like James Tist and followers
He English punter W. R. Sickert. It was ofcourse
posed th gel aan in advanced ping in
gehen, which, as we have seen, was cowards 1
progesive climination of aonhing oop icon a
ir helps to explain Degas’ itoated, even ano
ae ee nthe lar ig¢h century: though indi
tice 2 wer great pater, he played lle pare in the
Frovement of his time,
ation can be found in Degas’ interest in
sete eorin: Mane, Mood a Caanne
er all ancious to faten thee pictures, soitie ial
sion: they considered a picture essentially a Aa
surice, covered with colour aranged in seein ode,
to paraphrase a later definition. This approach un-
guesionly became « fandamenal of modem a
;owever, was slow in accepting it. In the 1870s.
ee eon de Conon Mark aed Abit be
agers any generally atening deve, coined ois
fe contrasts between shallow and receding space. In
i pure the ees Ted Back to land upon key fears
that ae pushed ane ie ono comer. We ge ed
tp jumpy compositions, with figures and wists cu
the fame, and ares of empy space as formalyeling
45 the figures or objects that inhabit them, The voids
Berween th lp ofthe dancers may make more nee
shape than the legs themes, Dez fn, hows
remarkable originality and audacity in his compositional
procedures asin the way the newspaper badges the
café tables in L’Absnthe, holding together a composition
ores tes (ue)
enc
<=
|
42 gioGan Rueas (ats419%7)
L’Absinthe, 1876. Oil on convas,
seuen sey (gx 68). Laure,
Pane
4s Impressionism
4, PAUL CzaNwe (+839-1906)
Ol Women wth the Rese,
1898 Oil on canvas, 324° x26,"
(81 x65). By cout ofthe
Paces of the’ Netial alley,
46
the thevise would eeainly callpse. Yet this i gy
the sm of ting that Dea’ contemporaries wee
Nevertheless, Degas’ late work shows that
simplification nd concentaton that we find in Me
and Céaanne, Affe the 18708 he progressively Tima
his subjecemaver und Snally his exclave concent
with his female model, whom he pains pedore
sertain basic actions ~ washing. and dying hong
Sepping in and out ofa tab (IL 83). Even the sey
‘movement mates lest and les, and though the praee
of the figs s esental, Deg is now 90 ematne
detached tha the woman's only function isto make
craton of peu pol
Figures tend to ill the paintings, excluding allo
elements. One ge closer and close to them, Sa
pethaps a consequence of Deg’ filing eyesight, >
he needed to reassure himself of thet physical ceiver
Difficulties of vision also encouraged Depa interes ¢,
seulptue; he had for log been in the habit of making
three-dimensional studies to help in the preparation
pictues. Butt would be a mistake with Degas, as with
‘Mone, to atribute too many facets of his late work we
visual ‘defect,
Degas was always interested in the raft of pancin
and fis yet dnughoman’ wan cue
Tncreasing dissatsfction wis oil paint led hum S
constant experiment, and he diluted the paint until
flowed across the canvas as easly as watercolour Hie
revived the use of pastel, sometimes in conjunetion with
thin oil washes and the lighe and bright colour ang of
pastel dominates his ler work. His al preference was,
for charcoal, often supported by pastel, and the line
ae repeated and the emphasis on the form shift within
the painting much asic docs in lat portraits of Cézanne
the OU Woman with the Rosary (Ill 41) for example
Degas! best work, like Cézanne's and Mona's, was
done a the end ofa lng eater, ata time when younger
generations had already surpassed it in invention ed
daring. Yer all three men approached the ullimese
ryseries of painting, leaving behind pictures thet
silence us by their depth and profundity. Ontthe teeshold
of the aoth century, ie i the old men ofthe roth who
provide us with the touchstone to which we mast
constantly revert.
ion with theit own work that
iret hs sae
‘diced in the ext geeaton For Sera, Van Gogh
opr, Baning of Mone and ht fens
: 2 final phase of naturalism which was
rn athe deans of ne Teall bese
a lity in the matter and manner o
ofa certain tivialty zo
the nc pang fhe 18705 and war convinced that
eomihing more fundamental, more profound, shou
Bn eas, bowen, what the ater sold
snd inthe later T8808 the avant-garde divided into
Moti oy ba fo ret nd Cangun
retrace adr eompeions (don
inulis) and syntheist (or symbols, o closson,
ja) wee the ee ached teem and Se illowe
nts, But the antagonism was essentially one o
feet anipaty and vay, and in some rspees the
Fo men had common ground. The greatest att ofthis
feneration, Vincent van Gogh, refused to commit him-
Seni wtheprcies orbiter,
Th het er of Georges Sera! (1857-91 bat the
ind of logic and precision that is own Painting
or ta tn pee ofthe duorder and unin ofthe
Ex of his time, whether academic or avant-garde, Seurat
offered a carefully worked out alternative. Ax fist he
thre de confine in scene method of many of
i lar th ey contemporain ms ve
ved it possible to put the art of painting on a
cede fing. He like Coutbe, was convinced that
the al wos al pital problems wat nets
and. His preparation for implementing his ambition,
Ted ihducicl and prac Teves vas thorough,
‘comprehensive and rapidly achieved. Born in Paris, he
began with a conventional academic training at’ the
CHAPTER THREE
Post-Impressionism
v7 42 GroRGES seURAT (1855-91)
‘Man with « Hoe, 1884. Oil on
amas, 18°22" (47 x56). The
Solomon R. Guggenein” Masa,
New York
a
cole des Beaux-Ans, where Ingres, though by
been dead for a decade, was sil the domino infer
Here Seuat dew male nudes and cass of Prag
jae Hells slp in an Upnodeed, fg
inear styl: he copied paintings and drawings by
and by the Old Masters ~ Raphael, Pons EES
whom Ingres had so grealy admired. His own
intings were unociginal exercises in the tadgios
Tigres andthe then alleges, hale |
painter, Povis de Chavannes (1824-98)
Once out of a school, ad af @ yes milla
service, Sera very quickly extended his range of inna
He was undoubtedly deeply influenced by the gos
French pesane pain, Jean Frangois Mille (814659)
andadopted bot hissubjet and he manner sae
Seurat also learnt from Mille’s ontemperai =
Daumiet, Courbet, Corot, Delacroix. By the time of
the seventh impressionist exhibition in March 1883,
SSeurat was eady for impresionism, and the landseape,
by Mone and Renoir and specially Piso encod
him to paint a series of small oil scudies of men at week,
which are pechaps his frst mature works (Il. 42).
Ac the same time, Seurat had not been neglecting his
theoretical taining, for which, unlike most arity, he
had developed a taste. As a student he had read Charles
Blane’s Grammaite des Arts du Dessin, which had become
a standard text since its fx publication in 1867. In
Blane’s book he found a diseassion of Delacroix’s views
on colour, and a summary o” an earlier weatse, Eugene
Chevreul’s De la loi du contrat simultené des couleurs (On,
the law of simultaneous contrast in colours), originally
published in 1827. This was just a beginning: in 1886,
‘many young artists fle chat it was essential to bring the
new scientific knowledge about colour and optics to the
ar of painting, and Seutat read everything he could find
OF particular importance to him were the articles by
David Suter on the phenomena of vision in the magazine
L’Art of 1880, and the French translation in 1881 of
an American book, Rood’s Modem Chromatics.
Seurat organized his own rise development like a
ilitary campaign, seting himself a succession of
‘objectives to be achieved. A: frst he concentrated on
drawing, experimenting with different-methods of
recording tonal values — long, diagonal, pene batching
‘with lines of varying densities; then the broader forms of
48. ceonces sEURAT (1859-91) Heal of « Young Man (deal of HL 46)
49 4, cxorcrs sens as
east Mates A
Conte crayon on paper, 13” x93"
Br ie ieee
(ers) Te Mepis
Pre So
45 PUVIS_ om cuavanyss
(1824-98) Le Dour Pays (The
Happy Land), 1882 (all ero)
$3) Ya Cai eC
(Aibey Find)
chistoscaro shading, obtained by che wie of
cont crayon. In his catly drawings Scare (te a
sub gradations of one, and a mastery ov the baal
ack and light masses, observing datk haloes sna
lighe areas, andthe everse phenomenon cee ~—d
nce he had achieved contol of tong, Soest
ts) fo examine sytematealy and exhusivly, ie
role of colour in painting. The approach of Mone?
Renoir was an empirical one: they added touche oe
colour until the desired effect was realized. ‘Steh
procedure was too imprecise for Seurat. He gradvsle
éliminated eat colours from his palate, bliceing a
any colour could be achieved by 2 combisaucye =
bert: sill, by a juxtaposition of primaries and they
complementaries, Colours were divtied and kepe sepa
ate 5 fara possible — hence the term divisioneay ey
in eatain cases Seurat seems to have expected then
‘tgs optically and give he impresion ofan cai
He experimented with his brushtoks, zt ft sdopey
the kind of handling found in impressions paintcon
the exly 1880s but ater sytematizing i. He Sade
2 lighly brushedin, cxaseros stoke, for which te
French term ‘balay’ has been adopted, an then, aroused
1883 2c began to use tiny dabs of eolour~ he dow clahe
fina Poni hig
cua’ fist great masterpiece was Une Bagel
which he began inthe ping of 1883 and comple ea
jn 1884 Iisa much lager work than any impresicnsa
pctor, and he painted itt show at the offal Salons
Seurat’s model was Le Dowx Pays (The Happy Land)
Il 45) by Puvis de Chavennes, which he had seen
Sere'® thea, Only when the Solon juny red to
Show Seurat’s enormous picture did he tum to the rival
texhibiting societies, and characterstcally became a most
fctive organizer of one of them, the Socté des Aries
Tndépendants.
‘Coe Balde was mos acl planned. Ser: fest
decided on the landscape seting of his compostion,
then made a dozen or more small oil sketches on thespot,
and a similar number of figure drawings in the stadio.
He was then ready for work on the big canvas, From the
saat of his cateer Seurat had adopted certain ancientcom-
positional devices to give him general guidelines. The
ost notable of chese is the golden section ~ said to be
the most harmonious and aesthetically sig way of
dividing a line (and by extension an atea) into two parts;
Sing gs asf proportion, ethene: me
related to the longer section asthe longer section is 0 the
whole. Reference to the golden section helps explain
why the most prominent young man on the gras is siting,
in precisely that spot in the picture, and why he seems t0
epitomize the air of calm and balanced monumenalty
that characterizes the whole picture. We feel at once the
sullnes ofa hot summer day.
46 GEORGES SEURAT (1859-91)
Une Baignae & Asnivs, 1883-84
Oil on canvas, 6°7°9'21" (200.5
jou). By courtesy of the Toutes
of the National Gallery, London
a sie dee up in tht Sunday bes, Seat Postlmpressionism
Hs, pethaps, a delibe
eel conmt of mode
‘ote hough we cannot be sure about this.
a of the greater complexity of Le Grand Jatt,
Breamade even more small ol sketches and deed
Fangs though he was probably at work on the big
de fom the very begining. The earth colours that
Gy al bw place in Ue Baik have now
Tpesrd, and dhe Easic colour contass of red-green,
falow-purple and blucorange are now dominant,
the picture was essentially painted in che winter
Grate 85, Seorat reworked i in the following winter
or finore sicily points syle and this gave him the
Bipot of emphasizing the colour programme
PPpe numerous figures of La Gren Jate lack the
soldi ofthe boys in Une Beignade~ they are Rater, nd
Six in 2 mote puzzling, imational, spatial relationship
GMtke another. Mor of them do not overlap, of even
toveh, but instead of diminishing in size only a they
fecede ito the distance, they also appear t9 diminish
ffom right w le. There now clealy appears for the fest
time Seurat’s wilful, perhaps comic, rather disconcerting
47 Geonces ssuRar (1859-61) Im other
Ey Dina 3 ie Cae In other respects, too, Use Bagnae i the sam of thi ch ~ consider the use he makes of umbrella, hats and
1884-85 Oil oncamas net Remarkable young artist's pictorial knowledge. We 4 = tails to set up a pattern of straight and curved
(2085 305), Courey ‘he gy ‘ily observe che light tonal haloes around Sark fone lines, of the way he will shift his viewpoinc in differenc
Inte of Chis (He Bh Because Seurat retouched the picture in 1887 che of the picture ~ high in the foreground, at eye-level
ret Menerial Celeon) development of his painting technique is observable ~ In the back. Ie is che same kind of device that occurs
the grained, appropriate enough, in the ex in Manet or in Cézanne, but Seurat’s use of it excites a
fubycios baliye’ manner, bot cher areas around the suspicion that this clever young man is clowning about
head ofthe young man, for examole (Ill 43) ~ show the and teasing the viewer.
tiny do of Seura’s mare syle. The color ofthe wal ‘This may partly explain the extreme annoyance of
fas dimonsaton of Seu’ attic pines Monet and of Renoir in particular, when La Grande Jate
Gre teal celor of as-is mixed with yelow dominated che eighth (and last) impressionist exhibition
od orange (sun igh): then blue, selected ftom shady in May 1886. A young critic, Félix Fénéon, made
Reh a ded: finaly touche of complmenarie matters worse by coining the term ‘neo-impresionist
feighen the fee. Sorat use the clout wheds he in his review of the exhibition, with its obvious ienplics-
und in such books as Rood's Modem Chroma 38 tion that this new approach had eclipsed che old impres»
sue we rere bess vl sionist manner, Seurat, it must be said, preferred the
Scots sasapes are of excptionl seni and «pithee ‘chromo-luminaris” for his kind of painting, but
Beau, bri developmen f i pico thinking fbr obvious ressons this erm never caught on. Fengon
sen Eat illwed inthe oceaon of hala dann also argued that Seurat was simply providing a scientific
smpostions. Aer Une Baignade came the systematizaon of impressionist technique: this was
even larger, grander, Un Dimanche la Grande Jette (I,
gs a eda Grande fate (Il. 47). convincing enough to bring Seurat the converts he seems
5 [The relaxed workingclas boys of Une Baiade have never to have wanted, like old Pissarro, or young Signac.
4 pendant in this picture of the Parisisn Paul Signac (1803-1935) had been working. in a Mone i speraralcend
"ile 972, The Bn Potton,
itor
49. JBAN-AUGUSTE- DOMINIQUE
| INanES (7to-1867) La Some,
1856. Oil on canvas, 54°28"
(163 x80). Lowe, Perit
54
derived manner and want on, after Seura’s pre
death, to become the great champion and leader of the
sewmpresione sol, " «
for Seurat himself, he was immediatly off
another direction. For La Grande Jat also has a private,
obscure, dreamvlike quality; it captures 2 moment of
abolue sila, and dhe ws. somthing stoi
curat’s disengagement fiom the subject that sppeled
to the symbols, The discovery beneath the sures of
the ages Sunday slznon ctng of ome mor
profound and mysierious significance was precisely
tune with the ides ofthe new young generation of poe
and critics who assumed prominence on the Pasian
literary scene afer the appearance of Moréas’s sjmbolit
manifesto in 186,
Seurat in fact became in November 1886 the close
associate of one of the most remarkable figures of this
{generation, the mathematician Charles Hey. In 1884
Henry had begun to give lectures atthe Sorbonne to
fascinated. audience: he had already writen 2 thesis
denoising bape facon byte we of mate
matical curves, and in 1885 published Une wethiigne
‘smi, is ees concede emotioal
Vales of colours and lines, Hey claimed tha
dliection had symbolic sgnifcance~ that ins eising @
therigh, or example, sugges pleasire~and he associated
coloars with each linear diettion. Hlemy atempted
mathematical formulze ~ not only
ching 1
lace ryt, which he related to the magnetism
movement,
7a, bur also metaphysical propositions, lke the
jxence of Code
Fd not presume to tll paincers what to do, but
pu a dew a ected in Sara’ woek i evident in
ti Mc evo atl painting, Let Poses (Il. 48) and
te Para, both painted for exhibition in March 1888.
Ee Rimbclas of Les Pose, for example, point
lyin the diecion that Henry associated with their
Pio and the many horizontal and vertical divisions
Fs Para probably conform tothe kind of mathematical
in which both Henry and Seurat were
ce.
Joi abject of Les Poewses ~ front, back and side
via same nude model ~ pays an indirect homage
re ages pings as Le Source (IL 4g); i eems
f se bee ebosen by Seurat primarily o demonstrate
(op no syle was a appropniate an terior 250 an
sips sting. But with La Parce Scuat ako confesses
Fi paion for popular eneaiamens, especially air,
tise and circus, and this wast inspite che astro
ces, Le Chil and Le Cinge. In them the
{Eines of Le Parade becomes exteme: the design of Le
Cia (Il ge) i kept ently on the surice, a nthe
GF Chae and Lautree which Sarat admired.
The led moves up and down the pice, giving a
tnioe mulpespectval eect. The gues ae cartoon
Hike groesgucs, the colours atident and artical, the
comple compostion overlaid with linea patterning,
Le Cine was exhibited in March 189%, though it was
sot quit finshed. Later that month, very suddenly,
Sauat caught pocorn and died, He was only 31-
Tp August 1890 be had explained ina lever his system
of pining: a 2 harmony of eonas, be declared,
toda the conta of tone and colou chit he had early
tsablied he now added contass of line Within exch
formal division, «distinct mood could be expresed ~
dark tone col colours, decending lines suggesting
‘adn and despair light tones, warm colours, ascending
lie suggesting gay and excement. Seuat was aware
of the vey af hs conlason, bue he remained
oavined tht somehow a more expreive language of
painting might be developed ion the abseace qualities
of ae were ecogeized as the most meaningfl ones.
Post-Impressionism
450 GEORGES SEURAT (1859-91)
Le Cirque, 1890-91. Oi on convas,
Cx yu" (bss x 1505).
Louore, Pars:
5s Post-Impressionism
This was a conviction which Seurt shared w,
exewhile rival, Paul” Gauguin (1848 ago fi
tor he was able wo make any practical te of his peek
Gags to wa thinking abot he abc singe
ines, numbers, colours and shapes.
fiend Emile Schuffenecker on oe ona ee bi
five sense, on which a mulipliiny of dings: (A
impresied themselves in such 2 way a8 to be indelige
communicate directly with the bran. From this 204
conclude that there are lines which are noble a
which ate mideading, ea eg line eee infa
a curve limits eeation, not wo speak of the fal
numbers. Have we talked enough about che musa
and 7? Colours, though less diverse than lines, are need
theless more explanatory by virtue of theit power overic
ee. There aetonalces which arenobleand others wig
ate vulgar, harmonies which ae alm or consoling it
others which ate exciting because oftheir boldaass*
As eveybody knows, Gauguin was in hie widdle
this when he became 3 fllaime pain, having bag
both sailor and businessman inthe early part of ane
Bur although his lack of formal training remained ¢
considerable disadvantage to him, his preparation oat
Jn is way as thorough at Seucat’s: He wae 1 dation
and accomplished Sunday pair and sey ag
ad had a landseape accepted at the Salon, He wa oe
wealthy enough to pursue his studi of modem st 6)
Dep he sng want sty
uigoin was much more thoroughly immecsed in
mpresionism than Seuratcver was, contibuting wg
exhibitions of 1880-82 landscapes that wee noe saat
filled ‘luion of Piso’ Pisa was a remendout
lp and support to Gauguin, as o 50 many other,
although Gauguin realized very quickly that Pisano
fiend Cézanne was the more orginal and impor
fats: When teymetin 661 Gatun was cued
Beyer ad a oan We rd
M, Cézanne found the exac formula for work score,
able wo everyone? If he discoveres the prescupuon fe
compressing the intense expression of all his sessione
into a single and unique procedure, try to make him il,
jn his sleep by giving ‘him one of chose mysterious
omen gy and come indy Para
share it with ws. Ie pethaps hardly supesing the
Céesnne remained mixtustal of Gabgein whee he
of wanting 1 seal his ideas, Gauguin's
eso 1884 (Il. 52) unquesionably pay explicit
ro Cézanne.
2a one accaton of sealing his ideas was brought
Tb ‘Gauguin a few years later by Emile Berard
ae ya), Thexe is 10 doube whatever tha in the
(roa re 1888 this yourg painter had shown Gauguin
pe dat fad evan npc on he
"syle. But the import point about an
Be ervey ofthis not who had te iets
Feo who pained the bem picrres. Here the answer
fo in doubx, for compared with Gauguin, Bemard
fer; minor aris indeed.
‘is place in the histor of are is assured only by the
pice Bron Women « Meat (2), which be
Feed in August 1888, anda once showed to Gauguin
Fegamodelled, heavily outlined, simplifed figures,
fmegulaly on a Bat, abstract ground wore ox,
Ay what Cauguin had been looking for. He acquired
emerd’s picture by exchange of one of his own, and
them, using a similar poet, immediatly painted his
lwo version of it~ The Vision ofter the Sermo (Il. 56),
Which is posibly the most important picture in his
cnt en,
Gauguin’s problem in che months immediacly pre
ceding August 1888 had been co find a manner of
anting that would accord with his conception of ax.
This is« by no means uncommon situation, especially
among painters of the more reflective, intellecrual cast
‘fmind; Mondrian and Kandinsky were t fnd them
felvs in a similae positon some twenty years later.
Gauguin knew that ar must move away from the ‘eor
of naturalism’, and become more abstract. ‘A. word of
advice hold is confidant Schuffeneckeron r4 August
1888, ‘Don’t paine too much from nature. Artis an
abstraction, Extrac it from nature by meditating infront
of, and think more ofthe creation which wall resul.”
In The Vision fier the Semon, Gauguin tes 0 put
these principles into practice. “The subject is ante
aaturalii, and Gauguin brings back into modern art
the angels which had been frmly banished by Courbe,
on the grounds that, although he had never seen an angel
tither, the intensity of a simple religious faith impresed
him (even if, unlike Bemard, he did not share i).
Accordingly he fek justified in painting the vision seen
51, PAUL GauGURS (1848-1903)
Blue Rosfi, Rouen, 1884. Oil on
‘anes, 29°23" (74 x66). Cale
lection Osker Reinhart ame Rimere
fale, Winherhur
52 (wie BERNARD (1861-
to4a) Ben Women ne Meco,
1888 Oo canes, 29°84"
(pgrgo). Colleton Beni. Sr
Comal Lae
37 53 PAUL GauGunN (1848-1903)
Chose in Gethsemane, 388. Oil on
senva, 28%4"x36" (72.5 91.5)
Norton Galler and Schoo! of Avs,
West Palw Beach, Florida
by the redulous Breton women, so moved by they
of Jacob and the Angel that on coming out of 2h
thoy seed to sc te supa taking pace bebe ge
YoY 21S fonder totemove the wresting gues at
the everyday world, Gauguin copied them foe "
Japanese colour-print that he owned; and he par
ii meadow ted instead of gren, fo emphasize har gt
Landscape, 8 he tld Van Gogh, 's ntti and
of proportion’.
Colour was in fat the fst element in painting ihe
could be seated absracy. Gauguin was ite conte
bout this. When a few week later « young art sie
fom Pari Paul Sérusir (1804-1927), came to see hint
Gauguin gave him 2 panting lesson: "How do you nt
‘hese trees? They ate yellow, Well then, put down ella’
And that shadow is rather blue, So render it with pong
lamar. Those red leaves? Use vermilion” Free,
such an arbitrary procedure, iis only 2 small ep ote
use of color for its emotional connotations, eather that
for any descriptive reason, and this was the path the
both Gauguin and his fiend Vincent van Gogh wen
taking.
The two men spent an Uuneasy two months together
jn Adles at che end of 1888, with consequences thet ag
well known, Gauguin atived on 20 Octobe, bringing
with him Brenard’s painting as well as his own rece
Work, and Gling cetain tha he was now on the righ
track. Though his influence over Vincent was consider
able, the vist was of litle benefit to Gauguin himsele
He didn’t lke Arles and, afer spending the cold winter
‘months in Pais, was glad to get back to Britany,
Gauguin fele at home in Britany, because of iy wild.
ness and primitiveness. ‘When my wooden shoes ting
on the granite, I hear the mffed, dull and powerfal
tone that I tr to achieve in painting,” he told Schuffe-
necke: early in 1888, He was sure that to break with
paturalism and find a more abseact an, primitive
environment was necessary. Ie was this conviction thet
made him want to leave Europe, and drove him co
Marcnique fer several months in 887, and finally to
Tahiti in 1891,
For the moment, however, Britany provided whet his
atneeded, Hebegan to tire of painting mainly landscaper,
a8 he had on eater visits, dad chee ae regu
subjects. Gauguin’s two Crucfxions and his Chest ip
xs paintings with
1 (Ill 53), however, ae teligious painting
Oerence: the blasphemous idenifcation ofthe artist,
‘Chit. This can be partly explained by Gauguin's
:
sc on thatthe artist was the sole creator ofa meaning’
idea that daxivesffom Manet and Mad
both of red, But
‘whom he particulary adm
Ta argued amar Messi gue,
Ge phe of a new morality as well as of a ea
postimpresionit generation dif
pe diiye fe Fectnrsis goen
sel arable, so that artistic research was
Bee fis own sake slone, but us 2 meson
Peelers Caoppin wok wo making wood carvings
Post-Impressicnism
PAUL GAUGUIN (1848-1903)
sa nem on
Sei ead BAT
¢ ’
lean Tapes 1692., 08 on
fons, 284x364. (73 x92).
‘Aintree Gul, ale
7° Post-Impressionism
00
on which he inscribed ‘Be in Love, and you'll be Hi
ot ‘Be Myeriou' in 1851 be atemped t pach
Tay. Viti ako knows 8 Sor) eal
(hs).
This satus lee lke 10 other Gatiguin work
Ik probably represents a deliberate attempt on hit po
Sod pictorial counerpa for he symbolise dramge 3
Boum: which his young Pavan fiends were proses
The forms and colours of the Breton landseape
¢onsderably abssacted; inthe distance isthe sea ana
Breton wedding procession. The nude adolescent il
recline, surounded by Bamelike foliage: her fea
crossed a in Cauguin’s Yellow Chit; one hand heise
a flower, he symbol of innocence, the other text ont
fox which placss is paw on her heart. The fox wars
symbol of perverseess ~ Gauguin had a Satanie sneak
Which led him to aceepe evil asthe necessary concomiians
to innocence,
To appreciate the contrivance of The Loss of Virgin
one has onl compate it with @ Tahitian picture ot
2 similar subject, Mane Tepapan, 1892 (Ill 56) Tie
onet literal wanslation of the vd is “Thought Spits
Gauguin’s interpretation, ‘She thinks ofthe spitit sf the
dead’, is inexact, as Bengt Danielsson points out, bre
X docs indicate what Gatiguin considered his paling
was about. He had returned home late at night to find
his Tahitian mistress lying tcmrifed in the datknesse he
painted her to express man’s fear of darkness and of
death, symbolized by the gnomeike sprit which keeps
watch in the background of che picture.
Gauguin often wrote about Manao ‘Tupapew; on one
‘occasion he summed up his description as follows
‘the musical part: undulating horizontal lines, blue
and orange harmonics tied together with yellows and
purples (which are their devivatives) and lit by greenish
Spark.
“the literary part: the spirit ofa living soul united with
the spirit of the dead. Day and Night?”
In today’s parlance, we would speak of the abstract
sather than the musical part, but Gauguin’s words do
express clearly his conviction that the message of his
Pictures could be conveyed as much through line and
colour as through a more literary symbolism. The
‘musical analogy is a particularly important one, because
‘music provides the example of an art which, though
oma, cane be lle meanings Prosiand human
Srlscrpaefnctons why ult pose
jn’ painting? ‘The question was to exercise many of
Gabguin’s contemporaries and succestors, to whom it
seed tha th anv ms i n he agiaine oe
¥eaour. In 1899 Gauguin wot ta friend: “Think o
the musical role which colour will henceforth play in
tnodem painting. Colour, which vibrates just ike msi,
iSableto attain whats mom general and yet mos elusve
in nature ~ namely ics inner force oe
‘And it was the search forthe esence, the inner force,
that sustained Gauguin. Hle had rejected che painting
oh mp bce ey ok sand te 9
Ifthe mysterious centre of thought” So he wat
Sar back poy hima and na qui ple “ene
bere the le dosed Hig he So
Seas was an attempt fo recapture cxrain infantile
experiences of his fatherles babyhood in Peru. For
Ghagein regression beeame both « peronal and en
se nnn
ee
6 PAUL GauCET (1848-190
The “Calgon OS ae
[seg laerses) th Cre
bt Mascon fd (Cio Fome
Fn ond Loc Gs Hoa I,
399)
attic necessiy. He turned to the primitive
exotic asthe only way of liberating a from ye
Glssea-Renaiwancenatuait tition "whch
thoughe had come to an end, And he accel
siraton aad dbsppoiniment of lie in Tahae tt
the Marquesas Islands where he lived, apun fe
Unprodctive sho spell in France, frm 185% ua
death in 1903, ly ‘
nfortnately, the South Seas did not provide hy
ith he primitive envionment he sought. Gauguin
2 ezntuy too lt: cvization had go here bef
[The ancient myths and gods had all been forgotten; they:
bad disappeared, as had the naked Bodies been f
‘isionaris’' shift, Gauguin’s Tah isa dram wor
an imaginative reconstucton of tometling that dala
‘ist. Inthe lst pictues he pained, Contes Beas ck
The Call (1. 57), for instance, the pretence is abandon
what we seis Gauguin’s version of the Golden Age
This, one of the grit myths ofan, obsessed him,
4 it did Ingres, or old Cézanne, of the young Matias
In Tabi, sick with, syphilis and fen’ hung.
Gauguin attempted suicide. His survival (because 2
‘vomited the poison) must have seemed to him an ienfg
joke: Burin 1898 he wrote: “The martyr is offen neces
for a revolution. My work has little importance saad
pared to its consequences: the frcing of painting fom
all restrictions.”
The third member ofthis extraordinary pos-impressionist
siumvirate was the Dutchman, Vinews te
(1833-90). The eldest son of a! Protestant pastor, be
always remained a preacher at heart, a man wih a
message of Christian love and charity eternally frustrated
by an inability to communicate with othe. In exly
manhood Vincent faced a succession of humiliating
Gailures— as art dealer, as ordinand, as evangelist. At
the age of 26 he was reduced toa state of misery and toa
helplines amir enough among the depressed
‘mining families of the Borinage to whom Vincent had
unsuccessfully tied to preach. And in this moment of
darkness he realized that his personal salvation lay
through painting.
Vincent's carer as a painter lasted cleven years, si and
4 half of which were spent in Holland. Tn the Dutch
Period. Vincent tanght himself to draw aunl wo paint,
and insruction manvals
uch rom copying mana
fies Fs extly progress ~ in ft
eee ommend me Sapa
ie “Tanks largely to the devsion
doh tal indfacnee
seal public in is lifetime), almost every work
eng ee abr nwng. And
son tsa ei, he rt
hte, evealing ever writen by an ts; these
i a te enwledge of Vineent's dyads
ie a remarkable insight into the way he fet
Feit own work bse
rate was not even sre that he want
He bad be, omen impr bythe
PINE ilussatos of The Grophic magazine, who ba
de cat to draw attention fo the plight ofthe urban
mat midVionan London, This weed
Ffpnt 2 foble anion fran ai, He gue is
gah Sora (58) an English eile, and ds
Bi in Pench which ask, “How ean it be that
Mets lon, spt woman pon cth? Vice’
sl prose fm be Hage whom be wat
to reform: anforunately, ike every eter prional
cei een thon wih his nly rte, Theo
ihsendod ody. The tragedy was that fe was imposible
fx Vice, eveyang Pad goo ce pits
Vincent did» drawing of tet roots in dry ground 0
sakes pat with Seri patbexme seine
ise lansape | pti the Ste, he ol
bt, he ame festa clinging ode ct nd
ye bang bal on ap by she orm. Sach 2 commen
Mie explain why Vince procined that
tay athe sae tne smb, and why be
dime Mil, wo pained Chess eaching! The
symbisn o te Sve isp) ad aud Van
Gogh's imagination fom the moment he began to draw
a pint.
“Jem Fagus Mile (1814-75) was ey gt ai
De tary vga oe ener fn whic ws on
Fed. His pains ae dll ncaa n. comprson
with hse fhe pein, abd some Bae
decid cond He slo, fom he
ition a a pro-modem ats, ye bis powers
2rd ange mil were mata" Abandoning
Pais it 1848 st moment when the Hse of capitalam
oo ie
59. JEAN-FRANCOIS
Gisig-75) Sower, 2850. Oil on
canes, 39%" 3214" (101 87.5).
Coury, Museum of Fine Arts,
Baton (Quincy Adams Shaw Cole
lection)
a sie
(60% 4). nore Pan “OTH
AN Coot (x
Beatson le Doth 1888 Ol es
HSE REe (64x80) Von Goth Fie
——
a
«india revelation were beginning to affce
Be llr chose insexd © paine a rurl
Pere. in which human values were paramount, and
Cel one tonexinent. Miles sea "wee
soe procreation and death: he was not 2
Pin, Pfien believed, and he tempered bis
Cot wi optimism bs wit toi eignatio.
Lance of Mlle’ ain the mid-rh cetsy
Nor only did he gather around him inthe
Barbone of devote fends and
Hee Sut hi deas were cated beyond France to
felloweSanny ia Evtope. The argument hat such
3 Ganovations as thote proposed by Manet and
se esons ar civil in comparison with the ines
the by Miler sone tha as continued to recur, mua
Sait up cote present day. But without formal re
math new ides cannot be expresied, and Milles tue
Bilewas were men like Piatto and Seurat and Van
Gagh and the young Picaso, rather than his more un
Sraginatve imitators.
"Vencent's magerpiece of the years in Holland, The
Pou Bats (ill 62) isa pirate eately in che Milt
ulin he seems almost completely ignorant of the
witole development of modem att up to that dae. The
Tes forthe piowre may have come fom a very similar
‘abject, The Priel Meal painted in 1883 by Jose Israels
Giae2911), the founder and leader of the Hague
Schoul, the’ Dutch counterpart of Mille’s Barbizon.
Bar the hushed, sacramental atmosphere of The Potcto
Bates, the clumoy strength of he Rigutes, and the sure
fuggesuon that we are not looking merely at a repre
sraetin of Dutch peasens— these se qualita cht only
Vincent (and Mile) could have given such a picture.
Tmcerain respees Vincent was none to happy about
Tle Potay Estes. He was overscnstive 2 friend's
ctiticiam tha eoncentation on the heads and hands had
fel him co neglect the bodies ofthe peasants. And he
seas aware thatthe colour ~ that ‘of avery diy poate’,
She said — was unadventurous: he was sll working
‘within the eackion of tonal painting, whee subd
gradation of tons fs allimporant, and colour tends ro be
Fronochromatie We Know fom the lters tat Vincent
fire eo his brother Theo in dhe summer and autumn
ak 188s how Kenly he was fing the need eo leave this
Ditch backwaxr and see some modem painting.
Post-impressionism
65 66
90) The Patt Ey 885 Oo
canvas, 32%," 45°(82 x 114), Van
apie aae =
‘Vincent could have had no more
‘Theo to the complexities of me
helped with intoductons, and
humourless Dutchman found
of such aris
h artists as Pissarro, Gauguin, Lavirec,
and Signac, none of whom
sympathy, Ie alone admiration,
Vincent arrived in Paris on 27 Febru:
for almost exactly two years live there with hs beget
perceptive puide than
en panting Theo cn
the gauche, intese and
himself inthe company
could have had mu
, for his sill sorcwien
immature painting. But these contacts taught Vincem
sreat deal, because, like many
‘more impressed by the work ofa
painters, he was of
wast he knew pense,
ally than by someone
ly than by he had never met. He greedily
absorbed all there was to see in
Paris taking what he
could fom
one painter affer another, worl
though the development of moder wes Feet
Delacroisc and Monticelli;
then the impressionism proper
of Degas and particularly of Monet; finaly te alteansrve
avant-gardes of neo-impressionism a
ind synthetism, repre-
sented respectively by his friends
‘pe riends Signae and Ben
ee crc
Jone o July of 1887, Van Gogh had arrived a thar
feral iterpreatin of impresionism which mas
his mature sy
le. His composition was simplicity ieee
with a tenden
tendency towards symmetry. Light ill the
pictur
colours are high in key and blend together,
showing that Vincent has observed local colours and
their complem:
iplementaries, and has
shadow. The brushwork has an
painted. sunlighe and
immediately evident
resity, And although Vincent has painted
e fpf esc, putting down exactly what he saw,
mid dhe symbolic associations evoked by
NT ee Paris for Arles in Febroay 1 and in
? sunshine his art blossomed with a new
er chad ys colo uniibely
fs ‘ever left his brushmarks so plainly visible
ee an pi cen oe
se ee pate follows snober— the orchard the
eget ares, ce haystack, the bows 0 th
ea GE Gi) he porta ofthe posman, te poe and
ace; the sunflower, the yellow house, the cal
ae bedroom, and many mor. In Pai, Vincent
ret ped, panting pean and workers, humble
Wed oto fis lndscaps and had cred insead
oe ee ampenonal apd anonymoss sobjecc mate
iupravonism, Alone in the South, he was himself
rea cast his spell over the Ares landscape and
FE people who inhabited it
Per confident and fice to improvise, so that the
oats he saw on the beach at Saintes Mavis have the
old design and bright colours of the Japanese wood
Block pants that ri oo ce wo fo
wes Beard: "On the beach, quite Bat and sandy,
mit Jqumbet of smallish gree, red, and blue boats,
wes fightul both in shape and colour that they made
eSThink of flowers” In che summer of 1888 2 single
our ends to dominate the individual paintings: blue
sa eeapes and de nighpices, yellow in che arvests
so the sunflowers. Vincent associated particular emo-
sree with each colour. “I have become an arbitrary
Mow, he tells his brother, explaining that in the
Porth of a Arist Friend (Il 60), “instead of painting
the matter-of-fact wall in a tite room behind the head,
[ paint infniy, a simple background ofthe richest most
intense blue that I ean contrive’.
"The blue backgenund was intended ro set off the
crangeyeiow colour ofthe pots far hat, exaggested
Fervent because ‘I want to paint men and women
‘with that eternal something about them which the halo
wed wo symbolize of old, and which we now ty to
Expres by the actual radiance, the vibrations ofeolou.”
Fiewas Ascinated by the emotional impact created by
the joxtaposton of complementary colours. He wrote
Post-Impressionism
6 vinceye vas cncH (1861
90) Wheefld with « Lark, 1887
(Oil on canvas, 2114" %2516" (54%
64). Van Gag Foundetion, Anster-
dem 64. vivceNr vax Goon (1853~
90) The Night Café 1888. Oil on
eames, 273" x38" (69.5 x8
9).
Yale University Are Galley (Bee
wet of Stephen Carlton Clark)
68
But the opposition
demonstrate when he
“Thave tried w expres
to Theo: Tam always in the hope of making adi
to gape the love of vo bs by mag re
complementaries, their mingling and their
the mysteriovs vibrations af
the idea chat the café isa place where one can ru
& mad, commit cimes.” The café becomes 2's
where the powers of darkness ae at work, an
coh
Kindsed loves” “Potton,
of complementtis cold a
exploited to give the opposie effec, as Vincers
ted
inl The Nice Cal Cg
« erie passions of mankind»
in one
ante-roon,
of Hall, fed with sulphorous vapours. We mea
further and suspect that for Vincent ie was
an arena of
human struggle, a picture of what life was rel
fox someone with an increasingly tens pip on al
One wonders, however, wheter The Night Café can
fot bear such an interpretation? Tha it a mow ugh
agitated and distrbs
picture than, for example, the
Beats on the Beech is apparery, bur is not this Betoun,
Vincent, who, was awaiting ‘Gauguin's arival wit
excitement and apprehension, was in an agitated se]
disturbed seate of min
id The dilemma that faces the
inte who wants his work to transmit such emotion, ¢
the terrible passions of mankind’ is that a picture exe
only convey the emotions the acst himself fel, Hoon
fever hard Vincent trie
bedroom in the Yellow
ed to make the paintings of his
House ‘suggestive of rest and of
sleep in genera’, they convey only the same tension and
unease (formally expressed by the perspective of the
oor and the enclosit
find in The Night Ca
fnetion of the walls) that we
Pashaps Vincen appreciated che diculis of making
painting more express
and looked to Gauguin for
lly it was a master-pupil
relationship. Psychologically too, Vincent was depen
dent on the older man, who already had a reputaionas¢
painter and had only come to Arle to please Theo and
‘scape penury in Patis or Brittany.
Cauguin broughe with him, not The Vision afer the
‘Sermon (Il. $6) which had been sexe t9 Theo Van Gogh
in Paris, but Bernard's Breton Women ina Meadow (Ill $3),
Vincent was most impressed. He took up his favotnie
subject of the sower once more, but Gauguin made him
adopt a closeup view which cut the figure at the waist,
and introduced a strong
18 diagonal across the picture
sin The Vision ofer the Semon. The
gs TM ibe but nether somal
men pavvent couldn't understand why Gauguin
cae ietNreduced Brcton women into a painting
He aed at Arle. Gauguin found himelf ince
jy sad by, Van Gogh: he wrote to thet mons
rds “He ks my pangs vey mach, bu
FE to them he alway find fuse romance
sence ather drawn towards the primitive. In regar
a: hae likes the accidental quality of impasto
omit mesinss of execution .
Fa oer of puntngs Vincent ed vy fad
fp blo the new ye, Pehaps the mos sues
Biba the Pome ot Ara: Sor of the Cv
fab Til 65. The sting i the public garden at Ars,
Sponethe al Howe, butte women ponenaing
fod Vincnt oi beasts walking in the
{Grin at Eten whee he had grown up. He wrote
Fae sth wosk to Theo: ‘Gauguin give a court
‘rock fom the imagination, and cetainly. thing
rogied ake on amore myseou appearance’
* Ueranaely, Vincent war tying pic inmanve:
sien is peonliy. Cacgui' isinence ht he
ee a er ing ios and hs
ae phasis on the bold cating of forms in 2
fire upset Vincen?’s natural ds fora crane
Fol lacing ae i Ev wae
aps, Vincent wat being th
Perec capesie So ste and adopted
our lines around fat areas of colour.
Magee too sei « way of painting for Van Gosh.
AAsbe le we to Bema: ‘When Geogun wan
eg, a8 you know I once or twice allowed. myse
{elite aberacions. Ar the ime this oad wo the seat
fo mea charming ack. Bur fs an enchants
land, my dear fiend, ahd eve fds ence up
st an insurmountable wall.’
*Frincen’s “insurmountable wall” was of coune 3
tal breakdown, and fom Chrismas Eve e385 oul
Fis suicide on 25 fly 1890 it if was darkened by @
Wong suzesion of eal, romeo hem much more
vee than others. ‘The cause seems to have beeb an
itheried epilepde condition, aggravated by Vincents
‘eloneglecand the evens ofhis if, but breakdown was
Spd we Seo
2 et oy a8 Ol
sce ye (a 03)
Tein Emon
9 canvas, 283
Rikon
Post-impressionism
66 viwcENT vax Goce (1853
90) La Bercewt, 1889. Oil on
"36%" (72 x93).
probably his inevitable fate, whatever he mighy
chosen to do. Tt would be’ as wron
Vincent’: illness did not affect his pair
all his work as that of a mrad, ‘At times pa
became a kind of therapy for him, occupying i
and thoughts and staving off the next cra ye ‘
‘he was well enough to work again he began to male
Garis of he pcre he kad bes pining a nna
the fie beskdown ~ La Been (Il 66) ~ che go
of the postman’s wife, Madame Roulin, rocking a cradle
‘She had become for Vincent an archetypal morka: figure
.gomlaion for thos iolted and in dange, eae
Tesendie fermen in Pie Los contemporay nt
of that name, which both Van Gogh and Coup
read with such enbusism. As Vincen sid: ‘the de
Game to me to paint such a picture that sls, whos
at once children and many, seing it in the cabin
their boat, should feel the old sense of cradling coat
gre them and remember thes lullabies." AS fad
been for. Gauguin, regresion was necesary for ihe
regeneration of Vincent's ar.
Vincent made five versions of the red and green
Berceus and sill mote ofthe yellow and blue Sanfene
Hr envisaged the pictures all hanging. together at
decorative whole, serving the function of seined
Windows in a church, Like Mone in the 1880s he had
begun to fel a disatsfiction with easel painting, snd a
longing for some more allembracing montmestl
context for art, longing that he was never to realise
‘Life in Atle had become impossible for him, and on
& May 1889 he moved twenty miles eastwards tothe
hospital a Saint Rémy, where he sayed for exact «
Year. At fst the change of landscape was a stimulus ia
the new motif that he painted Vincent found sn
eauivalent for his turbulent emotions. The flamelike
forms ofthe cypres tees and the undulations of the cons
swept by the wind combined to make an icesiibly
poignant image; no other modem art has rivalled th,
popular appeal of Van Gogh's,
Bot things were literally closing in on him, and a note
of sesignation creeps into his work. He no longer fad
faith in his artis destiny; just to stay alive and sine wes
dlifcult enough. Afier another breakdown in the som,
mer, Vincent wrote to Teo: ‘I am stoggling with
canvas begun some days before my indisposiion, 2
38 dismay
Kriller Miller, Otterle
ey
8 0 pretend re
is ll yellow, eb thickly
I. 67): the study is all yellow, ly
Fe eee Band rnp, Rerl
2 RS ae ga detad alsa Le
in be image o he vense that humanity
the image of dest, in the sense
eee the wheat he Ss raping Soi you he
espn tse doo. Bush
god in thi image o eth goes wa in
TeUPStighe with sen Rooding eveything wih
igh of pure gol.”
wer Virgen did ne fl well enough to ord
fein eh few pu ews ies
resing vo fad models among his fellow pains.
HES enced Git and wht epoducins ofa
By ais id, Mile and Delton parla
aid epi them ong colo dar he dag bt
Shed te subj. Heed ib prac ter
“We pin a vat ake © cmon cules and
aoe ere oar fay Berhoven hess
Fe send mieprendon. Te the Disk and whi by
thera ot Millet «pos for meas ce subject. An
fe Topo cls ot Ys a
alegeher myc bur seching for reminscences of
of clout area leah lng Ut my
own interpreation «1 started (copying) accidentally,
6, wean ya oan
Thi th Re
Bh na gi xc8 (59%
oon Goh Poni Ase
Be
n Postatmpressiontem
88 vinceNr van Goott (
7 ass
2) ka Vell (fri) 188,
92). Van Cogh Posebeny Jes
Fay Ver Cugh Peart, Ane
2
sind I find that it teaches me thi
tomate ie me conan ‘nd shove ag
‘an Gogh's improvisations afer
explo sang ben ombinaear oon
suber han dhe complements ofthe Are pn
The range is muted and muffled: och, bene
prples; vey pale greens and_ pinks; lise, wall
{uranic Ofen dhe color cay, wih a re ay
mixed with the pigment sracin “I
anor pli and insipid ‘Bot dhe dee 2 ie
incent intended: when he copies the pena
seated by the child bedie oven a any
seeps Mile’ abe fou ore ine
re to isa ‘parable, at in the teaching of
Ars to Van Gogh, was a moral foes re ba
Seve i io. fone ch ton fr hg
Joh his life and painting te
endurance of «man who exatel omega
Souler
late minimum wonder
Besa encouragement. §
tht Van Gogh sd Gauguin sol ave bor
them. ak ie time cottdenand the sage
ofthc bch impact lacy made wa
the story of modern painting bas been
old ers ofthe actives ofa dozen men whose
ipo this point
eat live, interlocks. Each extended the body of
he found it in some new direction, and each
sion changed that art irrevocably, so that young
Gainer 1909 confontd avr ieee siution fom
at which faced those in the 1860s.
“There can be no doubt chat che line already described
fom Courbet, Manet and the impresionist ro Gauguin,
Hirt and. Van Gogh isthe centeal seam of moder
Piprc development and that nothing can challenge is
Mreriding importance. Yet a grat deal of interecing
fining was Seng done in the late sot century, and
nly in France, ‘The wide influence of Mille’s
sant paotog has already been mentioned, bu other
Peat and acturalist and carly impressonist_manners
‘peacted adherents in every European country. By a kind
oF dialectical necessity, the realists always seem to be
Secompanied by idealist (or symbolist) painters, a5 if
fiery Holmas Hunt nceded a Leighton, and every
Menzel a Feuerbach. The manifold complexities of ths
1 tendency for ar to divide may depend on certain
temperamental diferences among artists — on, for
‘example, the degree ro which the painter or sculptor can
‘envisage the fnished work of art before he stats to make
fx. Does creation reside in the idea or in the action?
“This chapts is devoted to artists of many nationalities
working in several diferent counties; the evident
‘common groand cannot, however, be explained by any
Such idea as the Zeitgeist, othe spirit ofthe age. The art
ofthe immeciate past will look much the same to artist
‘wherever they may be, allowing, of course forthe local
bias, The posible paths open 10 atss at any one point
time are Limited, and itis no surprise to find painters
in widely separated places producing similar work, But
CHAPTER FOUR
Symbolism
B very ofien what seem to be coincide
{0 the network of personal and artistic conta”
ing any creative eron, for howenes ong ng
A good example of this cal mand
iA goed this cultural phenomenee'y
ee ae Gora ee
Ai was Whise’s Whe Gi (i 5. Tne fi
Peel Whisder (1834-2903) was Ameniaseat
to en Painting cater was ently spent in Europe
wlagll oT gc at Ere
Seaman Sicken Admittedly he began as an an
close contact ndon, wk me!
i = om London, where part of hg
2 tite Girl herself is a perfe
Anglo-French basis of ‘Whistles ae A anole
il ect Wh a A pt
Position and handling are not far removed °°”
& axes anor own
WHISTLER (183 4~-1 hte
Si es (Sim edie
2145x108). The Natal Ge
lery of Art, Was D.C, ne
Whittemore Collection) (Hae
cclear in eat! le the bul
kn ay Dea porate fr ey a
| 70 sxsons eveuere
Br. (1829-96) Autumn Lot
| 6 Or gait, eee,
(104% 74). Manchest Paris. Salo
sop x7#) " Ciy dn Paris Salon, the picture had been turned dow’
en tuen} by
London's Royal Academy
soho
see Wises wt dan ee Sa
way hae ehineel Apd the White Girl would in °
way ha ‘00Ked out of place in England, yecause ts,
Ip to. * point, also a Pre-Raphaelite ‘aon, te shown by
Malls aan ever Fay Rape work
Armwltoe of 1850 (Ill. 74) * 7) and "
lat_mysterious, poetic, withdrawn
Nibsle' ihe GlPecany eas Sen
debe made by the ne 28) and there are illest
a two men in the early 18603 whick
difficult to distinguish, Even the light mod ot Wa
‘rexive activity may be no art works in oe Pia
Millis’ handling, for dhe Englishman
ge Meat even tho his ‘das wae
de Spened by popular success. And itis har
eA rebate sage whiten of the White Gi
Hf be tetted Symphony ix White does notin par
a laetifom Rossett’s Annunciation, the “blessed white
sate Fig was ircevernily called in Pre-Raphaelite
AES Alihough it was in an Irish private collection
Ho hist could not have sens reputation as
whee xt exhibited pictre was suc cathe would
t certainly have known about its appeatance.
Mvnistee decided to setle permanently in London,
spa 18€2-63 he became the inmate fiend of Rosset,
ai guckly saw © it that che naturalistic elements
Ylppeared entcely ftom his ar, For Dante Gabriel
Geass (1828-82) thought he knew exactly what
dng should be concened with, though Pung
Fates ino practice proved almost impossible fr him.
Hlewas agaist the poetic use of naturalistic detail, which
faa been exploited so succesfully by Millis and
Hialman Hunt. The Anncaton is almost sipped of
fymbolic dels insead the mesage of pory and
DMocence which the pictae conveys is expressed
through the abstract means of colour and form.
In the 1860s Rosetti was experimenting with colour
symbolism, When he puinced Beata Beatrix (Ill 72) in
Memory of the death of his wife in 1862, it was ©
embody symbolically’ the death of Dante’s Beatrice,
with whom he identified her. The painting shows che
foment of Brie ascension even: dhe a2
balcony overlooking the city asifin a trance. For Rosset
econ used has an explicit meaning - ed forthe
Bd mesenges of dea and the gure of os whit
the poppy which brings sleep, the purple and green
Bei garmens 2 combination of fering and hope
respectively.
Diner Rosse paintings of the 18608 show im
exploiting another kind of rymbolie language = that of
line, The sinuous curve of filling wes of har is echoed
in the folds of a dies, creating 2 disinct feling of
sensuality and luxury. The chaste flame and volute
forms of another painterpoet, William Blake, are
utilized to express the volupeuous eroticism of half
th female enchantrsss bearing the names of Venus
or Lilith or Astarte.
71 DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI
(1828-82) The Annunciation, 1850.
Canvas mountel on wood, 28%47%
16M" (72 42). The Tate Galery,
London
ap) Bat Bi sy 4
Gm comer 08 (8 08)
Tae Gay, Ln 1g James anon woven
feusteee (834-190) "Tine
Fee ie Gry 18678.
i cae, 7° 8's" rag
1855) The ek aly, 1
| Bs Gee
Carn
than tdi Swine eH SE, Wi
preheat Prt oc,
es Zrey (Il. 73) Whistler atempeed
‘ind of punting of which thoy ws all appre ee
Thee Figures was tobe the fourth Symphony in Wh, 4
he musical tide sugges, it is a mood picene; tt
subject-matter has vitally no imponance: The qi
axe abstacted igus, emoved fom tine and places
2 dum world, which ii a suggestion ofthe fone
, ad of the decadent clascsm of Tanagra guna
ct 1870 Whisler abandoned mulusigure co
Positions to concentrate on landscape~ and it's nor
to say whether this was a confesion of defeat
recognition of his paicular sent. He ways
oncemed, however, with mood and atmosphere, sod
oti deicpion, With a seropulous ear fer on
he pained the Thames by night aed called the eu
Necture in Bl ond Sie (HL 73) bonowing hee
ftom music, Debusy repaid the compliment few yeas
leer when, remembering Whisler's paintings, heeled
orcheal pice Nature. The th cetry wat,
for atsig the conection bw he a=
I isi 35 dexipive poary, at poeny 25 visa
er) ot a6 We have seen, punting a music, And
apeat spre achievement, Wagnerian musica
fected a combination of such imaginative splendat
that ew aris could escape is spell nS Plendour
og While: dda cary forward Rowetisintodvet
ofa abies amboli ino pining: afer Rone
(1833-98) who pore this Hae of ie
Paintings were “beautiful romantic dreams, and. he
created an ideal world of legendary figutes in a strange
Ghwodldly landscape. AC its best, Burne-Jones vision
fan be a captivating one, and a picture like The Mill
{ill 74) is no mere literary illustration, but a work that
Alepends as completely on is visual impact 2s do Gau
Tahitian. paintings.
‘Burne-Jones had a. considerable reputation among
advanced circles on the continent for a few yeas after
1889, when he scored a stiking success at the Paris
jntemational exhibition. Certain older French painters
ike Puvis de Chavannes (1824-98) and Gustave
Moreau (1826-98) and Odilon Redon (1840-1916)
fhad long fk out of tune with thet times ~ they could not
accept the dominant realisvimpressionist tendency, but
neither were they conservative reactionaries. By the late
1880s things were changing ~ and the moment fora new
ar seemed to have artived.
‘Parallel dramatic changes were aking place in French
literature, changes associated with the names of Mallarmé,
Rimbaud, Huysmans, Proust, Gide, Moréas and others.
The naturalism which had dominated the mid-roth
century gave place to symbolism, just as in philosophy
positivism and materialism began to be questioned by
Bergson and others. All over Europe the now attitudes
fof a younger generation made themselves felt. The bases
fof science were questioned: no sooner had Freud begun
to introduce his revolutionary new concept ofthe human
personality than Einstein postulated new theories of the
nature of the physical world, And the religious revival
at the end of the roth century was another aspect of 2
shift fiom material to spiritual values.
75 jauss aaBor MxEILE
Gautreen (1834-1903) Nocturne
1 Ble and Siler! Cromor Lith’,
Bho Ol conve, 193 229%"
(sonyas). The Tate Galery,
non 7B
76 vuvis pe
CHAVANNES
(y'90) The hen
1881. Oil on canvas,
(185 x 192). Lowure, Panis
sree
The uncertair
« iny of values is now!
expe thane Btn epoca
paints an late roth century France. Puvis de: Chavet
sonar oh ec Pa
ons.” But it was
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