Impressionist Art Movement

During the 19th and 20th centuries, there were various distinct art movements in Europe. During the 1870s, the impressionist art movement came to life. Artists such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Gustave Caillebotte were all part of this movement. Following, was the expressionist art movement which took place during the beginning of the 1900s. This was a time of emotional and spiritual vision of the world through paintings. Toward the end of the era came cubism, also around the early 1900s. Cubism is known as the first abstract style of modern art. At the turn of the 20th century, art movements such as impressionism, expressionism, and cubism reflected the history and culture of Europe through the paintings of nature and modern life.
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Yet nature was not the only subject Monet painted, he also painted tourists and higher class people enjoying their leisure time. Monet enjoyed the occupied and restless train station of St. Lazare in Paris. He took pleasure in watching people moving out and about the station. Monet would sit in different parts of the station to take in the sights. Claude Monet highlighted the modernization and industrialization of Europe by incorporating train stations and factories into his works of art. In addition, in 1892 and 1893, Monet created a series of paintings called the “Rouen Cathedral”. This series was painted of a cathedral in France during different times of the day and year. As an impressionist painter, Monet captured the cathedral as the lighting and atmosphere changed. Monet rented a place across the street from the cathedral and started his work. He lined up his canvases, ready to change them as soon as the light shifted. This collection of the cathedral not only reflected nature, but also the modern life of people. As religion was a major aspect of people’s lives, it also brought influence into …show more content…
Cubism was an art form that portrayed realism. Cubist painters portrayed the world on their canvases as they knew it, rather than how they saw it. Compared to Impressionism and Expressionism, Cubism was a step outside of the comfort zone and boundaries of art, it was a “completely new way of looking at the outside world” (Golding). As traditional art started getting old and boring, artists started to ignore the customary rules of “form, space, color and technique” (Golding). This art style became recognizable by “the fusion of objects with their surroundings, the combination of several views of an object in a single image, and of abstract and representational elements in the same picture”