Painting is the most ancient art form in human history; in France, there are cave walls filled with objects like animals, human faces, and human hands. Human beings are creative animals, unlike other animals their art shows a thematic variation. For example, a bird can arrange flowers of different colours only for mating, while human art is diverse and complex, with multiple layers of meaning and impressions.
Impressionism and post-impressionism are the art movements initiated in the second half of the 19th century in France. Impressionism was an avant-garde movement that shocked its audience with the sketch-like quality of the painting. They emphasized paint, colour, light, and the canvas surface over the realistic depiction of objects. Hence, it was a reaction against realism. Monet’s Rouen Cathedral series is an ample example of the importance of light and colour in impressionism. This series depicts the cathedral at different times of day and over the years. Monet emphasizes the role of light in our perception of the image. Furthermore, the core feature of impressionists was to capture fleeting moments by sketching brush strokes to give us an impression of the passing of time and the distorted version of reality by destroying form. These spontaneous momentary sensations of light and colour were defining characteristics of impressionism.
Post-impressionism refers to artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne being the most famous of the movement. This movement is also a reaction against the realistic depiction of the world outside. For example, Van Gogh’s Starry Night depicts the inner madness of Van Gogh’s life through colour and brush strokes. He creates an expressive look that indicates his own despair regarding religion, death, and the universe. As we can see, the stars are not the ordinary stars that we see in the sky, the burning balls of fire and heat. This dramatic composition and the expressive nature of the artist are one of the primary features of the post-impressionistic painting.
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