Urban landscapes in the style of impressionism. Urban landscape in impressionism

Further development of European painting is associated with impressionism. This term was born by chance. The reason was the name of the landscape by C. Monet “Impression. Sunrise "(see Appendix No. 1, Fig. 3) (from the French impression - impression), which appeared at the exhibition of the Impressionists in 1874. This is the first public appearance of a group of artists, which included C. Monet, E. Degas, O. Renoir, A. Sisley, C. Pissarro and others, was greeted by official bourgeois criticism with crude ridicule and harassment. True, since the end of the 1880s, the formal methods of their painting were taken up by representatives of academic art, which gave Degas a reason to note with bitterness: "We were shot, but at the same time they ransacked our pockets."

Now, when the heated debate about Impressionism is a thing of the past, hardly anyone would dare to dispute that the Impressionist movement was a further step in the development of European realistic painting. "Impressionism is, first of all, the art of observing reality, which has reached unprecedented sophistication" (VN Prokofiev). Striving for maximum immediacy and accuracy in conveying the visible world, they began to paint mainly in the open air and raised the importance of sketch from nature, which almost supplanted the traditional type of painting, carefully and slowly created in the studio.

Consistently enlightening their palette, the Impressionists freed painting from earthy and brown varnishes and paints. The conventional, "museum" blackness in their canvases gives way to an endlessly diverse play of reflexes and colored shadows. They immeasurably expanded the possibilities of fine art, discovering not only the world of sun, light and air, but also the beauty of fogs, the restless atmosphere of life in a big city, a scattering of night lights and the rhythm of continuous movement.

By virtue of the very method of working in the open air, the landscape, including the city landscape they discovered, took a very important place in the art of the Impressionists. The work of the outstanding 19th century painter Edouard Manet (1832-1883) testifies to how organically tradition and innovation merged in the art of the Impressionists. True, he himself did not consider himself a representative of impressionism and was always exhibited separately, but ideologically and ideologically, he was undoubtedly both the forerunner and the ideological leader of this movement.

At the beginning of his career, E. Manet was ostracized (mockery of society). In the eyes of the bourgeois public and critics, his art becomes synonymous with the ugly, and the artist himself is called "a madman who paints a picture, shaking in delirium tremens" (M. de Montifo) (see Appendix No. 1, Fig. 4). Only the most discerning minds of that time were able to appreciate the talent of Manet. Among them were C. Baudelaire and the young E. Zola, who declared that "Monsieur Manet is destined for a place in the Louvre."

The most consistent, but also far-reaching expression of impressionism was found in the work of Claude Monet (1840-1926). His name is often associated with such achievements of this pictorial method as the transmission of elusive transitional states of illumination, the vibration of light and air, their relationship in the process of incessant changes and transformations. "This, undoubtedly, was a great victory for the art of the New Age," writes VN Prokofiev and adds: "But also his final victory." It is no accident that Cezanne, albeit somewhat polemically sharpening his position, later asserted that Monet's art is “only an eye”.

Monet's early work is quite traditional. They still contain human figures, which later more and more turn into staffage and gradually disappear from his paintings. In the 1870s, the impressionistic manner of the artist was finally formed, from now on he devoted himself entirely to landscape. Since that time, he has been working almost exclusively in the open air. It is in his work that the type of a large picture - a study - is finally established.

One of the first Monet begins to create a series of paintings in which the same motif is repeated at different times of the year and day, under different lighting and weather conditions (see Appendix No. 1, Fig. 5, 6). Not all of them are equal, but the best canvases of these series amaze with freshness of colors, intensity of color and artistry of rendering of lighting effects.

In the late period of creativity in Monet's painting tendencies of decorativeism and flatness intensified. The brightness and purity of colors turn into their opposite, some whiteness appears. Speaking about the late Impressionists' abuse of "a light tone that turns some works into a discolored canvas", E. Zola wrote: "And today there is nothing but plein air ... only spots remain: a portrait is only a spot, figures are only spots, only spots" ...

Other impressionist painters were also mostly landscape painters. Their work often undeservedly remained in the shadows next to the truly colorful and impressive figure of Monet, although they were not inferior to him in vigilance of seeing nature and in pictorial skill. Among them, the names of Alfred Sisley (1839-1899) and Camille Pissarro (1831-1903) should be mentioned first. The works of Sisley, an Englishman by birth, are characterized by a special pictorial elegance. A brilliant master of plein air, he knew how to convey the transparent air of a clear winter morning, a light haze of fog warmed by the sun, clouds running across the sky on a windy day. Its range is notable for its richness of shades and fidelity of tones. The artist's landscapes are always imbued with a deep mood, reflecting his basically lyrical perception of nature (see Appendix # 1, Fig. 7, 8, 9).

More difficult was the creative path of Pissarro, the only artist who participated in all eight exhibitions of the Impressionists - J. Rewald called him the "patriarch" of this movement. Starting with landscapes close in painting to the Barbizon people, he, under the influence of Manet and his young friends, began to work in the open air, consistently highlighting the palette. Gradually he develops his own impressionistic method. He was one of the first to abandon the use of black paint. Pissarro has always been inclined towards an analytical approach to painting, hence his experiments on the decomposition of color - "divisionism" and "pointellism". However, he soon returned to the impressionistic manner in which his best works were created - the wonderful series of city landscapes in Paris (see Appendix # 1, fig. 10,11,12,13). Their composition is always thought out and balanced, the painting is refined in color and virtuoso in technique.

In Russia, the city landscape in impressionism was enlightened by Konstantin Korovin. "Paris came as a shock to me ... the impressionists ... in them I saw what I was scolded for in Moscow." Korovin (1861-1939), along with his friend Valentin Serov, were central figures of Russian Impressionism. Under the great influence of the French movement, he created his own style, which mixed the main elements of French impressionism with the rich colors of Russian art of that period (see Appendix # 1, fig. 15).

"A new world was born when the impressionists wrote it"

Henri Kahnweiler

XIX century. France. An unprecedented thing happened in painting. A group of young artists decided to shake 500 years of tradition. Instead of a clear drawing, they used a wide, "sloppy" brushstroke.

And they completely abandoned the usual images, depicting everyone in a row. And ladies of easy virtue, and gentlemen of dubious reputation.

The public was not ready for the Impressionist painting. They were ridiculed and scolded. And most importantly, nothing was bought from them.

But the resistance was broken. And some of the Impressionists lived to see their triumph. True, they were already over 40. Like Claude Monet or Auguste Renoir. Others received recognition only at the end of their lives, like Camille Pissarro. Someone did not live up to him, like Alfred Sisley.

What revolutionary did each of them accomplish? Why did the public not accept them for so long? Here are 7 of the most celebrated French Impressionists the world knows.

1. Edouard Manet (1832-1883)

Edouard Manet. Self-portrait with a palette. 1878 Private collection

Manet was older than most Impressionists. He was their main inspiration.

Manet himself did not pretend to be the leader of the revolutionaries. He was a socialite. I dreamed of official awards.

But he waited for recognition for a very long time. The audience wanted to see Greek goddesses or still lifes at worst, to look beautiful in the dining room. Manet wanted to write modern life. For example, courtesans.

The result was Breakfast on the Grass. Two dandies are resting in the company of ladies of easy virtue. One of them, as if nothing had happened, sits next to the dressed men.

Edouard Manet. Breakfast on the grass. 1863, Paris

Compare his Breakfast on the Grass with Tom Couture's Romans in Decline. Couture's painting made a splash. The artist instantly became famous.

“Breakfast on the Grass” was accused of vulgarity. Pregnant women were absolutely seriously not recommended to look at her.

Thomas Couture. Decline Romans. 1847 Musée d'Orsay, Paris. artchive.ru

In the painting by Couture, we see all the attributes of academism (traditional painting of the 16th-19th centuries). Columns and statues. People of Apollo appearance. Traditional muted colors. The mannerism of postures and gestures. A plot from the distant life of a completely different people.

Manet's “Breakfast on the Grass” is of a different format. Before him, no one had portrayed courtesans so easily. Next to respectable townspeople. Although many men of that time and spent their leisure time. It was the real life of real people.

Once he portrayed a respectable lady. Ugly. He couldn't flatter her with a brush. The lady was disappointed. She left him in tears.

Edouard Manet. Angelina. 1860 Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Wikimedia.commons.org

So he continued to experiment. For example, with color. He did not try to portray the so-called natural flavor. If he saw gray-brown water as bright blue, then he portrayed it as bright blue.

This, of course, annoyed the audience. “After all, even the Mediterranean Sea cannot boast of such a blue as the water of Manet,” they snapped.

Edouard Manet. Argenteuil. 1874 Museum of Fine Arts, Tournai, Belgium. Wikipedia.org

But the fact remains. Manet radically changed the purpose of painting. The painting became the embodiment of the individuality of the artist, who writes as he pleases. Forgetting patterns and traditions.

Innovation was not forgiven him for a long time. Recognition waited only at the end of his life. But he no longer needed it. He was painfully fading away from an incurable disease.

2. Claude Monet (1840-1926)

Claude Monet. Self-portrait in a beret. 1886 Private collection

Claude Monet can be called a textbook impressionist. Since he was faithful to this direction all his long life.

He did not paint objects and people, but a single color structure of glare and spots. Separate strokes. Trembling air.

Claude Monet. Paddling pool. 1869 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Metmuseum.org

Monet wrote not only about nature. He also succeeded in urban landscapes. One of the most famous - .

This picture has a lot of photography. For example, motion is conveyed using a blurred image.

Please note: distant trees and figures seem to be in a haze.

Claude Monet. Boulevard des Capucines in Paris. 1873 (Gallery of Art of Europe and America of the 19th and 20th centuries), Moscow

Before us is a frozen moment of the seething life of Paris. No staging. Nobody is posing. People are depicted as a collection of strokes. This plotlessness and freeze-frame effect is the main feature of impressionism.

By the mid-80s, artists became disillusioned with Impressionism. Aesthetics is, of course, good. But the plotlessness depressed many.

Only Monet continued to persist, exaggerating impressionism. This developed into a series of paintings.

He painted the same landscape dozens of times. At different times of the day. At different times of the year. To show how temperature and light can change the same look beyond recognition.

This is how countless haystacks appeared.

Paintings by Claude Monet at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Left: Haystacks at sunset at Giverny, 1891 Right: Haystack (snow effect), 1891

Please note that the shadows in these paintings are colored. And not gray or black, as was customary before the Impressionists. This is another invention of theirs.

Monet managed to enjoy success and material well-being. After 40, he has already forgotten about poverty. Got a home and a lovely garden. And he worked for his pleasure for many more years.

Read about the most iconic painting of the master in the article

3. Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Self-portrait. 1875 Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Massachusetts, USA. Pinterest.ru

Impressionism is the most positive painting. And the most positive among the Impressionists was Renoir.

You will not find drama in his paintings. He didn't even use black paint. Only the joy of being. Even the most commonplace in Renoir looks beautiful.

Unlike Monet, Renoir painted people more often. Landscapes were less important to him. In the paintings, his friends and acquaintances are resting and enjoying life.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Breakfast of the rowers. 1880-1881 The Phillips Collection, Washington, USA. Wikimedia.commons.org

You will not find in Renoir and profundity. He was very happy to join the Impressionists, who polls refused to plots.

As he himself said, he finally has the opportunity to paint flowers and call them simply “Flowers”. And not make up any stories about them.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Woman with umbrella in the garden. 1875 Thyssen-Bormenis Museum, Madrid. arteuam.com

Best of all, Renoir felt himself in the company of women. He asked his maids to sing and joke. The more stupid and naive the song was, the better for him. And the male chatter tired him. It is not surprising that Renoir is known for his nude paintings.

The model in the painting "Nude in the Sunlight" appears to appear against a colorful abstract background. Because for Renoir there is nothing secondary. The model's eye or background area is equivalent.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Nude in the sunlight. 1876 ​​Museum d'Orsay, Paris. wikimedia.commons.org

Renoir lived a long life. And I never put down the brush and palette. Even when his hands were completely shackled by rheumatism, he tied the brush to his hand with a rope. And drew.

Like Monet, he received recognition after 40 years. And I saw my paintings in the Louvre, next to the works of famous masters.

Read about one of the most charming portraits of Renoir in the article

4. Edgar Degas (1834-1917)

Edgar Degas. Self-portrait. 1863 Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal. Cultured.com

Degas was not a classical impressionist. He did not like to work in the open air. You will not find a deliberately lightened palette with him.

On the contrary, he loved a clear line. He has plenty of black color. And he worked exclusively in the studio.

Yet he is always ranked alongside other great Impressionists. Because he was an impressionist of gesture.

Unexpected angles. Asymmetry in the arrangement of objects. Characters taken by surprise. These are the main attributes of his paintings.

He stopped moments of life, not allowing the characters to come to their senses. Just look at his Opera Orchestra.

Edgar Degas. Opera Orchestra. 1870 Musée d'Orsay, Paris. commons.wikimedia.org

In the foreground is the back of a chair. The musician has his back to us. And in the background the ballerinas on the stage did not fit into the “frame”. Their heads are mercilessly "cut off" by the edge of the picture.

His favorite dancers are not always depicted in beautiful poses. Sometimes they just stretch.

But such an improvisation is imaginary. Of course, Degas thought carefully about the composition. This is just a freeze frame effect, not a real freeze frame.

Edgar Degas. Two ballet dancers. 1879 Shelbourne Museum, Vermouth, USA

Edgar Degas loved to paint women. But illness or body characteristics did not allow him to have physical contact with them. He has never been married. No one has ever seen him with a lady.

The absence of real plots in his personal life added a subtle and intense eroticism to his images.

Edgar Degas. Ballet star. 1876-1878 Musée d'Orsay, Paris. wikimedia.comons.org

Please note that only the ballerina herself is drawn in the painting "The Star of the Ballet". Her colleagues behind the scenes are barely distinguishable. Maybe a few legs.

This does not mean that Degas did not complete the picture. This is the technique. To keep only the most important in focus. The rest should be made disappearing, illegible.

Read about other paintings by the master in the article

5. Berthe Morisot (1841-1895)

Edouard Manet. Portrait of Berthe Morisot. 1873 Marmottan-Monet Museum, Paris.

Berthe Morisot is rarely placed in the first row of the great impressionists. I’m sure it’s not deserved. Just here you will find all the main features and techniques of impressionism. And if you like this style, you will love her work with all your heart.

Morisot worked quickly and impulsively, transferring her impressions to the canvas. The figures seem to be about to dissolve in space.

Berthe Morisot. Summer. 1880 Fabre Museum, Montpellier, France.

Like Degas, she often left out some details. And even body parts of the model. We cannot distinguish the hands of the girl in the painting "Summer".

Morisot's path to self-expression was difficult. Not only that she was engaged in "sloppy" painting. She was still a woman. In those days, a lady was supposed to dream of marriage. After that, any hobby was forgotten.

Therefore, Bertha refused marriage for a long time. Until I found a man who was respectful of her occupation. Eugene Manet was the brother of the artist Édouard Manet. He dutifully carried an easel and paints for his wife.

Berthe Morisot. Eugene Manet with his daughter in Bougival. 1881 Marmottan-Monet Museum, Paris.

But still it was in the 19th century. No, Morisot did not wear trousers. But she could not afford complete freedom of movement.

She could not go to the park to work alone, without someone close to her. I couldn't sit alone in a cafe. Therefore, her paintings are people from the family circle. Husband, daughter, relatives, nannies.

Berthe Morisot. A woman with a child in a garden in Bougival. 1881 National Museum for Wales, Cardiff.

Morisot did not wait for recognition. She died at the age of 54 from pneumonia, without selling almost any of her work during her lifetime. On her death certificate, there was a dash in the line of business. It was unthinkable for a woman to be called an artist. Even if she really was.

Read about the master's paintings in the article

6. Camille Pissarro (1830 - 1903)

Camille Pissarro. Self-portrait. 1873 Museum d'Orsay, Paris. Wikipedia.org

Camille Pissarro. Conflict-free, judicious. Many perceived him as a teacher. Even the most temperamental colleagues did not speak ill of Pissarro.

He was a staunch follower of Impressionism. In dire need, with a wife and five children, he still worked hard in his favorite style. And he never switched to salon painting to become more popular. It is not known where he got the strength to believe in himself to the end.

In order not to die of hunger at all, Pissarro painted fans, which he willingly bought up. And real recognition came to him after 60 years! Then he was finally able to forget about the need.

Camille Pissarro. Stagecoach in Louveciennes. 1869 Museum d'Orsay, Paris

The air in Pissarro's paintings is thick and dense. An extraordinary fusion of color and volume.

The artist was not afraid to paint the most changeable natural phenomena that appear for a moment and disappear. First snow, frosty sun, long shadows.

Camille Pissarro. Frost. 1873 Musée d'Orsay, Paris

His most famous works are views of Paris. With wide boulevards, a bustling motley crowd. At night, during the day, in different weather. In some ways, they have something in common with a series of paintings by Claude Monet.

In this article, you will see the St. Petersburg cityscape presented in the art gallery "Art-Breeze". Here are collected works of various authors, which are performed in different styles and techniques. All these works have one thing in common - they depict St., the way the artist saw him.

Urban landscape, as a genre of painting, was formed quite late, in the 18th century. It was then that cities began to acquire their modern character and the number of urban residents began to increase rapidly. Before that, only a few medieval artists depicted cities on their canvases. These images were very primitive, they lacked topographic accuracy and they served to indicate the scene of the events to which the plot was dedicated. Ancestors cityscape in painting can be called the Dutch painters of the 17th century Vermeer Delft, J. Goyen and J. Reisdael. It is in their works that you can find the city landscape the way we are used to seeing it in modern paintings.

Contemporary artists who exhibit their own cityscapes at St. Petersburg's Ar-Breeze art gallery portray St. Petersburg as largely a foggy seaside city with bustling life and gorgeous architecture. Most of the paintings are created in the style of impressionism and classics. The saturation of colors and the possibility of filling the canvas with light, which the impressionist painting technique provides, most fully allows you to reflect the spirit of this city on the Neva!

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