Post-Impressionism developed between 1885-1905 as artists reacted against Impressionism's focus on perception and the visual appearance of the natural world. Key figures included Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Georges Seurat. They sought to deepen the meaning of their works and represent their own sensations and conceptions rather than just observed nature. Cézanne in particular experimented with representing 3D forms using cylinders, spheres, and cones to bring depth and structure to his landscapes and still lifes of the French countryside.

2. Impressionism
Post-
Impressionism

3. 1867 1895
1890
Camille Pissarro

4. The Apotheosis of Delacroix
Paul Cezanne, 1873-1877, 1890-94

5. Post-
Impressionism
(1885 – 1905)
Influenced by:
Altered understanding of physical reality
Atomic physics & chemistry; experimental psychology & subconscious
“All things become flimsy, with no strength or certainty.” – Kandinsky
New understanding of artistic tradition
Challenges to the art establishment, new influences
Development of avant-garde culture
Democracy & pluralism; rise of mass culture; alienated artists

6. Shared Characteristics:
• Negative reaction to purely optical
• Search for new types of subjects
and forms of expression
• Attempt to deepen meaning –
focus on conceptual over
perceptual

7. Is art most rightly concerned with:
Creating a model of Creating an imaginary
the real world world
Nature as observed or Artist’s sensations
Perception Conception
Mind Spirit
Intellect Intuition
…or both?
Seurat (1859-1891) Gauguin (1848-1903)
Cezanne (1839-1906) Van Gogh (1853-1890)

8. “Woman Leaning on a “Study for Une
Parapet By the Seine” 1881 Beignade” 1883

9. “Bathers at Asnières” – Georges Seurat 1883-84

10. “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”
– Georges Seurat 1884-86

11. “Bridge at Courbevoie” - Georges Seurat 1886-1887

13. “Orchard,
Côte
Saint-
Denis
at
Pontoise”
Camille Pissarro 1877 Paul Cézanne

14. “Orchard in Pontoise” – Paul Cézanne 1877

15. 1883-85
“Gulf of Marseilles Seen from L’Estaque” – Paul Cézanne

16. “The Bather”
– Paul
Cézanne
1885-87

17. “Victor
Chocquet
Seated”
-Paul
Cezanne
1877

18. “Hortense
Fiquet in a
Striped
Skirt”
-Paul
Cezanne
1877-78

19. “Portrait
of
Gustave
Geffroy”
Paul
Cézanne
1895

20. “The Card Players” – Paul Cézanne 1890-92

21. “Two Card Players” –Paul Cezanne
1892-95

22. "Rideau, cruchon et compotier“ – Paul Cezanne 1893-94

23. “The Basket of Apples” – Paul Cezanne 1895

24. “Still Life with Apples” – Paul Cezanne 1895

25. “Mont Sainte-Victoire” – Paul Cezanne, 1885-1887

26. “Mont Sainte-Victoire” – Paul Cézanne 1885-1895

27. “Mont Sainte-Victoire Above the Tholonet Road” or
“Hermitage, St. Petersburg” – Paul Cézanne 1900

28. “Mont Sainte-Victoire” – Paul Cézanne 1890 – 94

29. "May I repeat what I told you here: treat nature by
means of the cylinder, the sphere, the cone,
everything brought into proper perspective so
that each side of an object or a plane is directed
towards a central point. Lines parallel to the
horizon give breadth... lines perpendicular to this
horizon give depth. But nature for us men is more
depth than surface, whence the need to introduce
into our light vibrations, represented by the reds
and yellows, a sufficient amount of blueness to
give the feel of air."
Paul Cézanne to Emile Bernard, 15 April 1904

30. 1895
-190
0
1902
- 04
1904
-190
6

31. “The Great Bathers” – Paul Cézanne 1898-1905
“The Great Bathers” – Paul Cézanne 1898-1905

34. Paul Gauguin
(portrait of
his wife)
1878

35. “Washerwomen at Pont-Aven” – Paul Gauguin 1886

36. "I have sacrificed everything for
style, because I wished to force
myself into doing something other
than what I know how to do."
Gauguin to a friend, 8 October 1888

37. “Blue
Trees”
Paul
Gauguin
1888

38. “Vision after the Sermon; Jacob Wrestling with the Angel” –
Paul Gauguin 1888

39. ”Van Gogh Painting Sunflowers” Paul Gauguin 1888

40. “Washerwomen in Arles”
Paul Gauguin 1888

41. “Night Café at Arles” – Paul Gauguin 1888

42. “The Yellow
Christ”
Paul Gauguin
1889

44. “When Are
You to be
Married?”
Paul
Gauguin
1892

45. “The Day of God” – Paul Gauguin 1894

46. “Farm in Brittany” – Paul Gauguin 1894

47. “Whence Do We Come? What Are We?
Where Are We Going?” – Paul Gauguin 1897

48. “Portrait of
the Artist (at
Golgotha)”
By Paul
Gauguin
1897

49. “Horsemen on the Beach”
“The Call”
Paul Gauguin 1902

51. “The Potato Eaters” – Vincent Van Gogh 1885

52. “Bedroom at Arles” – Vincent Van Gogh 1888

53. “I think the
sunflower
is mine.”
Van Gogh, in
a letter to his
brother Theo

54. “Starry Night Over the Rhone” – Vincent Van Gogh 1888

55. “The Café
Terrace on
the Place du
Forum, Arles,
at Night”
Vincent Van
Gogh 1888

56. “The Night Café” – Vincent Van Gogh 1888

57. “The Starry Night” – Vincent Van Gogh 1889

58. “Wheat Field with Crows” – Vincent Van Gogh 1890

59. “Thatched Cottages by a Hill, Auvers-sur-Oise”
Vincent Van Gogh July, 1890