Impressionism and Surrealism Essay

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Impressionism and Surrealism

Impressionism

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s (Rewald, 1973, p. 6). The name of the style itself is derived from the title of a Clajude Monet work, Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), which provoked the critic Louis Leroy to coin the term in a review in a Parisian newspaper (Rewald, 1973, p.7).

There are several facets of impressionist painting that align its works together. Artists tended to use short, thick brush strokes which were thought to capture the essence of a subject rather than the details. Colors were often applied side-by-side with little mixing, which created a vibrant surface that created an optical combining of colors that was perceived by the viewer's eyes in standing at a distance. Additionally, impressionists tend to favor the inclusion of unusual angles within their works in order to provoke different visual perceptions and thoughts of the on-looker. Most notably, is Impressionists' use of light within their works. New techniques were utilized in order to capture the changing features of the sun and twilight, which can be seen in noting the reflection of colors from object to object within many Impressionist works. In viewing contemporary art, Impressionism may seem quite tame in terms of technique and subject matter, but the fact remains that the Impressionists were considered radicals in their time. Painters such as Monet, Manet, and Renior and Cezanne began to violate the rules of academic painting in favor of utilizing the aforementioned techniques and skills in order offer onlookers the chance to view realistic scenes of modern life and landscape rather than a staged still-life or portrait staged within the confines of a studio.

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Surrealism

Far different from Impressionism is Surrealism, an art style that developed in the early 1920s, which stresses the subconscious or non-rational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism or the exploitation of chance effects, unexpected juxtapositions, etc. (Ades and Gale, 2007, p.15). Largely developed into a movement by individuals who called for the regaining of a rational state of being after the horrors of World Wars I and II, Surrealists sought to use their work as a means to glorify positive expression and nonconformity.

Surrealists utilized techniques that had never before been seen in the art world. Believing in the "innocent eye," a concept that art is truly created in the unconscious eye, Surrealists worked with psychology and fantastic visual techniques, basing their art on their own memories, feelings….....

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