Impressionism

Montmarte, a foreign bohemian land back in time in which you can visualize various impressionists gathering together at a pub at the top of Sacre Couer with crepes melting in their mouth along with empty beer mugs spread across the tables analyzing their work and arguing passionately about how they refuse to conform to the conservatives classical demands and what they consider acceptable art. Lined up along the narrow cobble stone roads of La Butte at the bottom of Sacre Coeur are one crepierie, pub, fabric store, and flower market after another. The tall narrow homes are so ancient that they appear to be slightly crooked and on the verge of toppling over if a sharp wind were to fly by its roof tops. The home of the Moulin Rouge with the wind mill on top spinning its wing spans still show traces of what life was like in Montmarte back in 1900. I can visualize Toulouse-Lautrec’s Moulin rouge girls kicking their legs in the air to the can can in the red light district of Paris known as Pigalle while aggressively flirting with pointy mustache circus costume suit wearing men that are gulping down green absinth. High in the air jumping from one trapeze to another flies Edourd Degas’s Ms. La La while down below on the theatre stage floor his graceful ballet dancers twirl around in their pink tutus like winding puppets. Outside in the streets along the markets I see Peter Poudres poor orphan boys jumping out of the art canvas coming to life running around the streets stealing apples from the markets mixed with the struggling musicians and artists that have been shunned from the South of Paris as outcasts, working hard to make a measly few dollars. Impressionism, more than an era of compelling art, so influential that it has left its distinct marks along every inch of landscapes throughout Europe, streets museums and pubs in Montmarte, and deep into the heart of Parisian culture.
Picasso, Monet, Manet, Morisot, Cezanne, Renoir, and Degas refused to the best of their financial ability to follow the strict guidelines and mediums that their fellow classical ancestors had used for many centuries. Even after one museum such as the Louve in Paris or the National Gallery in London refusing their masterpieces time and time again, they still refused to conform because deep within their souls, they saw a new light others could not see and had no choice but to incorporate these mediums into their work. “Of all these things- hunger misery being misunderstood by the public…Only a few people understand anything about art, and a feeling for painting has not been given to everyone…you can be successful in spite of everything and everyone, without compromising oneself.” -Picasso Born with a gift that was very evident from a very young age, Picasso mastered the conservative techniques and outdid many famous artists first in his hometown Malaga and then the big metropolitan Barcelona. Nevertheless, he chose to go against the norm by incorporating a variety of cubist techniques in some of his later works, huge curvaceous women, and African tribal masks mixed with risky nude displays because to him, this was art. His own father was so astonished by his skill that he himself handed over his easel and paints to his son when he was only eleven because no one could compare, so why not leave it up to the master. How he captured each distinct line of the rib cage of a muscular men while still blending the lines in so softly, one would assume he had years of studying anatomy or at the very least worked hand in hand with Leonardo or Michelangelo’s masterpieces. During Picasso’s blue period which was most likely attributed to the loss of his dear friend Carlos Casegemas who committed suicide, he displayed his feelings of depression and despair. Moody blue backgrounds layered in very thick harsh strokes of paint to separate the people symbolized their inner most feelings of distinct lines of separation and isolation. There is no unity, hope, or evident hints of light. By positioning these people separate from one another with crouching dreary body mannerisms with lost facial expressions of sadness, Picasso succeeded in accurately portraying the feeling inside your heart when you loose someone you love. To the conservatives, not blending your work to display more accurate depictions of real life and having no unity of people within a piece was outlandish and unacceptable. From his Rose Period it became very clear what a wide variety of work Picasso could create. He altered his technique to depict colorful lighthearted partially nude acrobats engaging in various circus acts with vast scenic landscapes in the fore and background. The transformation from the blue period to the rose period of acrobats facial expressions of serenity mixed with excitement created a sense of enlightenment in Picasso’s new life. Moving deeper into the impressionists era, Picasso continued to experiment with the unknown and began his period of cubism in which he would create pieces that were very triangular symmetric and linear anywhere from pieces of fruit in a bowl to naked prostitutes spread across a bed with animalistic faces and tribal African masks. The majority of his work was not created to appeal to the conservatives that demanded more Christianity based pieces or real life depictions of every day life but instead, he portrayed many anti war messages with the use of violent toros attacking women or his most famous piece, Guernica, which have stark messages against the Spanish Civil War and the Franco Regime. Guernica depicts his anger against the war, fascism and the tyrant Franco by his portrayal of cold black and white images of dying people with limbs partially destroyed, screaming horses babies and women, crying birds plummeting to the ground in the shape of bombs, and many more horrific images. Guernica literally jumps out of the canvas and grabs you by the throat to demonstrate the horrific atrocities of life that war massacres. Later in his life Picasso retraced his love for classicism and used his son and lover as models. This new era for Picasso resulted in shocking many of his fans because they were appalled that he would abandon cubism but Picasso experimented and painted what he felt and was always searching for new ways of creating art just like when he took on sculpting or creating 3d canvases. He would never allow one to categorize his art into a group, therefore he continually experimented with different mediums such as abstract expressionism, surrealism, and pre-fauvism later on in his life. To many surrealists, Picasso was their mentor. “I have never had time for the idea of searching. Whenever I have wanted to express something, I have done so without thinking of the past or the future. But where is it written that success should always belong to those who flatter the public? I wanted to prove that you can be successful in spite of everything and everyone, without compromising oneself.“ -Picasso While tracing Picasso’s footsteps along the paths of the southern tips of Spain, up to Barcelona and over to Montmarte, I imagined what life must have been like for a man like Picasso. How can one posses the ability to reach the hearts of so many people on a political and psychological emotional level through ever transforming and evolving art?
Monet on the other hand, did not focus his attention on showing the world the harsh realities of the common man, anti war messages, nor depicted feelings of despair or enlightenment such as in Picasso’s blue and rose periods. Instead, he simply but masterfully captured the beauty of nature such as his famous water lilies that he planted at his home in Giverny. His landscapes and reflections on water were so amazingly powerful to look at by themselves that they alone stood out radiating auras of peace and tranquility. His 17 meter canvases of willow trees cascading over the water with lilies floating on top along with 3d light reflecting off the water at the museum La Orangerie and Museo Momarrton are so captivating that you literally need to step back five feet to take it all in or it will engulf you whole. Similar to the other impressionists, initially Monet’s pieces were not acceptable to Paris because he too used very thick layers of unblended paint and did not focus on depicting accurate proportions and photographic accuracy. Instead he captured impressions of the various colors of for example, the green blue and yellow of the ocean in the south of France resulting in giving you the visual effect of the ripples on top of the glassy surface of the water, the physical action of the fluidity in a wave, and the feel of warmth from the sun radiating off the sparkling cool water. Like many misunderstood artists, Monet and his family felt the harsh effects of living the life of a struggling artist desperately just trying to make a dollar. A humble man that had a gift to capture reflections of scenery in its natural state but was just too foreign for the world to understand at the time.
Renoir unlike the others did indeed become very famous during his time but also went through many obstacles going against the norms. Although in some of his pieces he did slightly conform by blending more of his pieces and using thinner layers of paint in order to get his pieces into prestigious museums, he still left his distinct trademarks of his style by only altering a portion of the piece like for example only one part of a persons clothing like a scarf or rim of a hat. In a way it was like he was playing with the conservatives because he knew they simply could not deny his masterpieces if he adjusted them just a little. Out of any of the impressionists Renoir mastered the skill of capturing the true subtle flesh tones of people and the voluptuous soft curves of women such as his maid. Its amazing because even though he was an impressionist, thus leaving impressions of people and scenery, he so accurately captured his models from the way a females long curly hair gently rests over her breasts to how her toes curve in ecstasy resulting in the piece almost looking more accurate than an actual photograph.
The streets of Montmarte only slightly lift the lid of Pandora’s box to Impressionism. But not until you allow yourself to dive into the canvas and let it engulf you, can you open your eyes to what these amazing artists have left for you to see. They take you back in time anywhere from Cezanne’s couples sunbathing by the Seine River, Degas’s ballet dancers fixing their slippers and stretching backstage, Picasso’s voluptuous Amazon women working in the fields, all the way to feeling the heart wrenching pain of a screaming woman holding her lifeless limbless baby after her Guernica had been mercilessly annihilated due to the cruelty of genocide. Trace the lines of their brush strokes within you, wander the city that lives eats and breathes art, and you will enter back into the marvelous era of Impressionism.