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Air and colour
The paintings that laughed at him merrily from the walls were like nothing he had ever seen or dreamed of. Gone was the brown gravy in which Europe had been bathing its pictures for centuries. Here were pictures riotously mad with the sun. Paintings of ballet girls backstage, done in primitive reds, greens and blues thrown next to each other. He looked at the signature Degas.
There were a group of outdoor scenes along a river bank, caught with all the hot, bright colour of midsummer sun over head. The name was Monet. The darkest colour Monet used was a dozen times lighter than the lightest colour to be found in all the museums of Holland.
He studied the technique closely, and saw that Monet put elementary colours next to each other without gradation, that many details were barely suggested, that colours, lines, lights and shades did not end with definite precision but wavered into each other.
Just as the eye sees them waver in nature, said Vincent. These painters filled their pictures with air. And that moving, living air did something to the objects that were to be seen in it.
Vincent knew that, for the academicians, air did not exist: it was just a blank space in which they placed rigid, set objects.
But these new men! They have discovered the air! They had discovered light and breath, atmosphere and sun; they saw things live in that vibrant fluid. Vincent realized that painting could never be the same again. It was almost as though these men had created a new art.
The Impressionist Palette and Technique
For centuries all painting had been based on three primary colours: red, blue and yellow, but science now taught the painters that though these might be primary colours in pigment, they were not primary colours in light. The new science of spectrum-analysis made impressionists familiar with the fact that white light is composed of all the colours of the rainbow, which is the spectrum of light. They learnt that the primary colours of light were green, orange-red, blue-violet, and that yellow-though a primary in paint was a secondary in light. On the other hand green, a secondary in paint is a primary in light as green pigment can be produced by mixing yellow and blue pigments. They discarded black altogether, for, modified by atmosphere and light, they say that a true black did not exist in nature, the darkest colour was indigo, dark green or a deep violet.
Further, they used the colours with as little mixing as possible. Every water-colourist knows that the more he mixes his paints, the more they lose in brilliancy. The same is true of oil paints. The impressionists refrained, therefore, as much as possible from mixing colours on their palettes. They applied them pure in minute touches to the canvas. They achieved the desired effect by juxtaposed touches of pure colours which, at a certain distance, fused in the eye of the beholder and produced the effect of the tint desired. The Impressionists produced a brilliant luminous grey by specking a sky with little points of yellow and mauve which at a distance gave the effect of a pearly grey. The effect of a brilliant brown was given by the juxtaposition of a series of minute touches of green, red and yellow.
It was an endeavour to use paints as if they were coloured light. The tendency before the Impressionists was to regard colour from the standpoint of black and white. The Impressionist asked which colour in the solar spectrum it came closest to.
Text A. Impressionism
The landscape painter, who wishes to reproduce the actual hues of nature, has to consider not only “local colour”, but also “atmospheric colour” and “illumination colour”, and further take into consideration “complementary colours”. One of the most important discoveries made by the later Impressionist painters was that in the shadows there always appears the complementary colour of light. It you take all this into account you’ll understand the full significance of Monet’s saying “The principal person in a picture is light”.
Text 6
John Constable
(1776 – 1837)
John Constable is one the greatest painters-realists of the 19th century. His pictures are as fresh and simple as the poetry of the Scotchman Robert Burns (1759 –1796).
Constable was born in a Suffolk village. He spent his childhood about his father’s mills on the banks of Stour, a pleasant river in Suffolk. He went to London to study but following his father’s wish he soon returned to help at the mill. He became a student at the Royal Academy School only at the age of 23.
As an artist Constable developed his style with great independence, studying nature and the world of old masters. He never traveled to Italy or to any other country, he did not feel a necessity for that. Though Constable is the author of portraits, his talent fully developed in landscape painting.
Constable painted the valleys of his dear green England, her river and hills with windmills, her sea coast with boats. He painted rain and sunshine; cool evening and the heat of midday. In his landscapes he tried to express his attitude to his native country. Constable’s paintings show us his love for the countryside and his deep respect for the common people of his native country.
One of the French artists and critics wrote about Constable’s most popular painting “The Hay Wain” (1821); “The appearance of Constable’s works was a great event in the history of modern painting. His paintings sparkle with originality, based on truth and inspiration. There is nothing artificial in the picture “The Hay Wain”. You see a cottage half covered with old shady trees, a clear brook and a cart crossing it. In the distance you see the typical countryside near London. You can feel the damp atmosphere of England. Such is one of Constable’s compositions in all its simplicity.”
Constable did not receive real recognition in England during his lifetime. The reactionary critics and aristocracy were not friendly to Constable’s work. Constable said “I am not a painter of ladies and gentlemen.” The artist understood that his landscapes of cottages and mills, valleys and fields with common people would not bring him fame.
The country where Constable was first recognized when he was already 48 was France. In the eyes of French artists and critics Constable was an innovator in landscape painting. His painting “The Hay Wain”, a landscape of his beloved Stour, was exhibited in Paris in 1824. It was awarded a gold medal at the exhibition.
In Constable’s pictures you can see something of the whole country in each of them. You see the changeable English weather, the ocean winds carrying clouds and the damp air. The artist liked to study the sky and he had a special word for making sketches of the sky – skying. Constable paid great attention to sketches from nature and has left a great number of them. He knew how to find beauty in the smallest spot of his native country. Work amid nature was always joyful to Constable’s mind.