Discussion of contrasts evident in artworks from various ages and art movements is an essential part of art investigations. Understanding the differences between works created and analyzing the historical context of the era in question can significantly improve the historians’ knowledge regarding specific artistic approaches (Roslak, 2017). In this work, two artworks pertaining to divisionism and neo-impressionism will be examined, and the relevance of each creative piece will be described.
George Seurat: Controlling Optical Illusions
The later 18th century has seen the growth of multiple artistic styles. A technique imperative for the post-impressionist art period is described as divisionism, characterized by the detachment of colors into different patches or dots (Kleiner, 2016). By challenging the observer to connect the colors optically instead of naturally blending paints, divisionists initiated a new strategy for color implementation in paintings (Roslak, 2017). An exceptional example of such artwork is the piece produced by George Seurat, named “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” The artistry behind this work is particularly masterful, as the painter uses both primary and complementary colors to construct an optical illusion. Seurat was highly inspired by the effects of optical mixture derived from scientific color theories and sought to create an art piece that would represent these theoretical findings (Singletary, 2016). Instead of blending the painting materials together, the author placed multiple colored dots on the canvas while maintaining the same sizes for the dots. Manipulating the color schemes and shaping the painting using spots rather than brush strokes produced a new artistic movement – divisionism.
Seurat’s “Sunday Afternoon” had a tremendous impact on contemporary artists. A thorough examination of color patterns and forms that could be utilized in art design was the main goal of post-impressionism, one of the primary artistic movements of that time (Brodskaïa, 2018). The followers of this approach analyzed the main visual patterns that could be applied to artworks in order to enhance the viewers’ experience. The new style suggested by Seurat has broadened the artists’ capabilities, introducing novel techniques that produced more vivid and powerful pieces (Singletary, 2016). The author’s discoveries contributed to the rise of neo-impressionism, a significant movement of the late 19th century (Roslak, 2017). Altogether, Seurat’s painting has widely influenced the artistic environment, providing the painters with newer drawing methods.
Van Gogh: Exploring Dynamics
A popular piece necessary to include in this discussion is Van Gogh’s “Self Portrait with Felt Hat,” written in 1888. This artwork is a prominent example of neo-impressionism and its influence on famous painters from that era. The portrait mentioned consists of various colorful strokes that, from a close perspective, seem detached and chaotic. However, from a greater distance, the painting becomes more explicit, and the brilliant use of short strokes of complementary colors makes an unforgettable impression on the viewer. The artist masterfully adapts the technique presented by Seurat, utilizing some of the divisionist methods, but adding his stylistic ideas simultaneously (Folego et al., 2016). Seurat uses small dots to create a certain optical illusion, which is designed to dissipate at a longer distance to produce a seemingly ordinary painting (Kleiner, 2016). In contrast, Van Gogh implements much more vivid and abrasive strokes to intensify the colors and include dynamics into a still picture (Folego et al., 2016). This self-portrait is more intense than the “Sunday Afternoon,” even somewhat chaotic, thus leaving an unforgettable impression.
Van Gogh’s work was incredibly influenced by the neo-impressionists’ examples he encountered in Paris. The new methods devised by Seurat and further implemented by Signac were recognized by Van Gogh and later included in his artistic experiments (Gogh-Bonger & Gayford, 2018). Utilizing much longer but still distinct brushstrokes allowed the author to achieve specific symbolism, as the lines form a halo around his head. The simultaneous contrasts of red, green, orange, and blue colors were subsequently noticed by contemporary artists and later described as a perfect way to convey the shapes and textures of particular objects (Elsaed, 2017). Modern researchers refer to this piece as one of the boldest and experimental paintings produced during the neo-impressionist era, which would later be acknowledged as a highly influential work (Elsaed, 2017). It is possible that these examinations of color patterns and optical mixtures provided the artist with sufficient evidence to produce some of his later, more famous artworks. Overall, even though the “Self-Portrait” draws on the strategies devised by other authors, Van Gogh reshapes them and follows his own ideas, contributing to the rise of neo-impressionism.
To conclude, the two artistic pieces compared and contrasted in this paper prove to be exceptionally valuable for the development of subsequent art movements. Seurat’s exemplary use of scientific theories on color properties and visual perception has vastly affected the creative environment of that age, presenting the painters’ community with novel drawing methods. Such implementations were immediately noticed by the followers of post-impressionism, promoting the rise of neo-impressionism. It has been shown that Van Gogh was tremendously impacted by divisionists and their works, utilizing these practices in his own creations.
References
Brodskaïa, N. (2018). Post-Impressionism. Parkstone International.
Elsaed, H. I. M. (2017). Vision of Vincent van Gogh and Maurice Utrillo in landscape paintings and its impact in establishing the identity of the place. International Journal on The Academic Research Community Publication, 1(1), 1–12. Web.
Folego, G., Gomes, O., & Rocha, A. (2016). From impressionism to expressionism: Automatically identifying van Gogh’s paintings. 2016 IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP), 141–145. Web.
Gogh-Bonger, J. van, & Gayford, M. (2018). A memoir of Vincent van Gogh. Getty Publications.
Kleiner, F. S. (2016). Gardner’s art through the age: A global history. (15th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Roslak, R. (2017). Neo-Impressionism and anarchism in Fin-de-Sicle France: Painting, politics and landscape. Routledge.
Singletary, S. (2016). Georges Seurat, the art of vision. Nineteenth-Century Contexts, 38(3), 230–232. Web.