Revolutionary paintersAt the turn of the 19th century, painting underwent many changes with new scientific discoveries and the defeat of France in the Franco War -Prussian. Artists like Édouard Monet and Georges Seurat helped shape these transformations. Monet is generally considered the father of Impressionism due to his debut at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 with Impression Sunrise. Monet used hues that sometimes contradicted the actual color of the object. His technique was based on observing how objects and surfaces reflect light. Seurat conquered the world with his Grande Jatte in 1884-1886, where the painting seems to dance with the use of divisionism. Divisionism was based on White's scientific color theories. Seurat's scientific approach and Monet's observational approach differed greatly from the academic standards that surrounded them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In the 1860s, Monet began to paint in the manner of the Barbizon painters. The Barbizon school revolutionized landscape painting. Throughout history, painters have looked to nature to practice painting from observation. They first went to the countryside with sketchbooks to try to reproduce nature, then in their studios they assembled idealized landscapes referencing their archaeological sketches and magazines. Therefore, the landscapes would appear symmetrical and clear in the withdrawal of space. The late 18th century saw the invention of portable paints, so painters painted on location on small canvases to train their hands and eyes to accurately record color and texture. However, the artists retreated again to their studios to form idealized landscapes and the painting exercises served only as reminders on the wall. The biggest challenge was capturing something transient like running water. From this time, there are many studies on running water. The artists of Barbizon have taken it upon themselves to advance these studies. Daubigny is one of the precursors of the Impressionists. He explores the light and shadow of clouds to get a better sense of nature. He was the first to paint entirely on stage. Monet was inspired by his example and began to paint on stage but instead of painting only the landscape, he challenged himself to also include figures. Boudin had the greatest influence on Monet. His works were small in scale and generally focused on tourists at the beach. Later, Monet painted series of tourists at the beach but his works are close-ups of the bathers while Boudin's works are dominated by the sky and the tourists are small. He devoted a large part of the canvas to the sky because it is the most changeable element and therefore seems the most interesting to him. Although Courbet was not part of Barbizon's group, he contributed to the landscape revolution by applying paint with a palette knife, roughening the surface and the subject as well. Monet became increasingly interested in solid objects in relation to liquid and in the way light and shadows play on water. He began painting seascapes because of the ever-changing configuration of elements that attracted him. Monet works quickly and deliberately on location in a boat. He paints quickly to capture the changes the water undergoes every second. He quickly noted thesechanges and changed canvas to continue to capture water. Later, in his studio, he will work on the preliminary painting. He would then have a few that he would work on. The Green Wave demonstrated its quest to capture the liquid rather than the solid object. The painting is alive with movement, as Richard R. Berttell points out. “We seem to participate with Monet in his invisible boat…we feel the swells in the deep, dark green water, depicted with thick, sucking paint that the boats seem to float on the paint rather than on the water…Monet wanted no restraint in his medium. (p.109) The horizon line is very high, which gives the impression that the spectators are included in the painting and that the wave is about to crash over them. The realism and intensity of this painting that could only have been achieved through observation of nature is what distinguishes Monet's works. Paul Tucker writes in his article that "for the first time [on April 15, 1874], Paris had witnessed an independent exhibition of avant-garde art mounted as a direct challenge to the salon, the academy and the official art world. (p.465) This challenge involved exhibiting impressionist works including Degas, Pissarro, Renoir and Sisley as well as some more traditional individuals. The result was effective to see because on the one hand, as Tucker mentions, “it made the show look academic; on the other, it made the progress of the Impressionists very clear. (p.469) The contrast of works really made the Impressionists stand out, but reactions to their works were not always kind. Even though most critics agree that this new art form is what France needed after the bitter defeat of the war, they still could not get over the feeling of incompleteness of the works presented in the exhibition. However, among the negative comments, there was some praise. For example, Monet's Boulevard des Capucines received an exhilarating review from the critic Chesneau. “Never,” he affirmed, “… the prodigious animation of a public road… the agitation of the trees along the boulevard in the light and the dust, the fugitive, the instantaneous… has never been understood and fixed with a fluidity as prodigious as in the extraordinary and marvelous sketch... the boulevard des Capucines. (p.470) However, the main work which later became legendary was neglected by most critics and ridiculed by others. The Impression, Sunrise, which is rumored to be the origin of the movement's name. This painting is extremely patriotic because it celebrates the reconstruction and industrialization of Paris after the Franco-Prussian War. The setting is Le Havre, one of the country's busiest ports; it was therefore the source of pride of all French people. It represents Le Havre at sunrise. The sunrise was a widely used motif in painting, it represents the start of a new day. In this context, Monet says that it is a new beginning for France. The sun is located just above the construction site, which also announces the promise of a France regaining its strength. The reflection of the sun in the water extends towards the viewer. In the foreground it is easy to make out a boat with workers because they are painted black-blue. The workers represent the reinvigoration of the economy and show Parisians undefeated and working to rebuild France. In the background, Monet very vaguely indicates the industrialization of Paris by depicting smoke coming out of pipes on the right and on the right he shows the reconstruction of Paris by alluding to construction cranes. Print, Sunrise shows Monet's interest in the relationship between heaven and earth. . Here he almost mixes thethree elements except the sun which contrasts most with the “robins egg blue”. The rest of the background is painted in deeper blues, warm grays and reddish oranges. The colors seem almost artificial but the texture of the water that Monet creates with a few blue-green touches and the dark silhouette of the boatmen in the foreground as well as the perspective and depth created by the reflection of the sun make this scene very credible. This painting was definitely painted on site. The Impression, Sunrise was one of six paintings Monet created to depict the port. He painted it at dusk, at dawn, during the day and in the dark, from different points. The appeal of a series is that it doesn't need to be finished and offers unlimited possibilities. “They convey the idea that a single canvas could never completely capture the characteristics of a given pattern, raising even more serious aesthetic questions about the nature of the pattern itself,” Berttell writes in his article. (p.118) This feeling that a pattern in nature can never be truly captured in a single painting gives us a greater sense of nature's magnificence. It forces us to observe the limitless power that nature contains. The series method seems to be the only logical resolution to show the water and sky constantly changing in their relationship to the ground. It also demonstrates Monet's dedication to the goal of capturing nature in its true nature, a goal he shared with his teacher Boudin and his contemporary Bazille. They transformed landscape painting that left the fields and villages to be shared in city studios and cafes. (Berttell, p.104) Georges Seurat was more interested in the deeper meaning of a painting than in the representation of nature in its full reality. His subject mainly focused on the representation of Parisians in "their essential aspect" in "color harmonies". Seurat viewed his paintings as essences of his subjects that only color harmonies could produce. Seurat's style is generally referred to as post-impressionist because he uses some impressionist ideas about color and combines them with the philosophies of White. In fact, Grande Jatte can be dissected according to the theories written by Blanc in his book Grammarie which Seurat knew very well. The inhabitants of Grande Jatte are anonymous and therefore make this painting a commentary rather than a direct representation of an afternoon in the park. The rigid approach is reminiscent of the style of Egyptian art. The characters are even arranged according to the class hierarchy in the park. According to Blanc, Egyptian art lacked life because it focused on the character of a society caught up in superstition which makes society tense and conservative. (pp.16-17)The Egyptian-style layout is easy to spot in Grande Jatte. The stoic figure of a bourgeois woman in the foreground appears stiff and still, much like the statues of Egyptian pharaohs. Additionally, it is painted in profile, which was a trademark of the Egyptians. Seurat here makes fun of the rigidity of a woman. The soldiers are alerted by someone who is not even a captain; he is just a Pied Piper in uniform. Seurat comments here on how soldiers blindly follow orders even if they do not come from their elder. The only person relaxing at the scene is a worker in the foreground. He leans on his arm facing the Seine. This figure is reminiscent of Seurat's earlier work, Les Bains d'Asnières, where he shows workers relaxing after a hard week of work. The place where the Grande Jatte takes place is actually on the other side of the river where the.