Impressionism and Color Theory

Maggie Patterson

Dr. Brown

ARTH 4649-001

Midterm Paper

Impressionism and Color Theory

        Impressionism emerged from artists desire to create their own depiction of the world around them in their own unique vision. Starting in the late 1860’s, Impressionism emerged, stemming from Realism but offering the artist more room for creativity. The Impressionists sought to bring romanticism back while still maintaining the realist tendencies of depicting everyday life. Impressionism originated in Paris during a very pivotal time when the city was undergoing vast industrial and architectural changes. Modernization was a central theme of Paris at the time and greatly influenced the subject matter for artists. While some embraced this change, others could not get over their nostalgia for a simpler, more rural past. Although there was a wide variety of works and styles by the artists of the time, they all rejected the precision and meticulous detail that was central to Realism. As stated in the name of the movement, the Impressionists wanted to create their own impression of the world around them, in a deeply personal manner. The subject matter plays a minor role in comparison to the development of a new style, utilizing painterly brush stroke and adding overall more expression. The Impressionists were able to play around with texture and color, a freedom that was dominated by Realist tendencies. Not only did the industrial technology of the time improve, but color science and the emergence of new pigments did as well. The Impressionists and later the Post-Impressionists utilized these new notions of color in their works, creating an artistic style that had not been seen before. These changes are central to this art movement and key to understanding the impact it had on the world.

        In Impressionism, color began being used in a completely different manner. The Impressionists began applying colors side by side, mixing as little as possible to create pure hues that would have a bigger overall impact on the piece. They would create darker tones by mixing complementary colors, eliminating the use of black.^[1] They understood the basic color science theory that colors exist in shadows, and utilized this idea when painting them. The artists’ palette also became more diversified with the introduction of new pigments including cobalt blue, viridian green, cadmium yellow, and ultramarine blue. At the time, paint was very expensive and the variety was scarce. These new colors were brighter and more saturated; exciting for the artists of the time. During the late 1860’s paint tubes also emerged, allowing the artist to paint ‘en plein air’ and to truly capture their impression of a scene.^[2]

        According to Jonathan Crary, a prominent art critic, these changes lead to the formation of new perceptual techniques where the visual experience became subjective.^[3] The artists’ personal viewpoints and opinions were often translated into their works through stylistic choices. When the Impressionists arrived at Paris they were Realist landscape painters who became heavily influenced by the industrialization. Included in the industrialization of the entire city was the development of photography. The emergence of photography influenced the Impressionists and many commonalities can be seen between the two art forms. The first, photographs lacked the clarity of modern cameras thus creating intense contrasts between light and dark.^[4] This intrigued the Impressionists, leading them to include dramatic lighting and value in their paintings. Another characteristic was the use of elevated viewpoints, a style choice that led to increased dramatization.^[5] A third attribute brought by Photography was the diffusion of details, with clarity and precision playing less of a role.^[6] This ‘blurriness’ is very identifiable when it comes to Impressionist works. It created dreamy renditions of reality, as if the artist looked at a scene if only for a second then had to draw what he remembered. This idea is central to Impressionism and what Claude Monet had it mind when he galvanized the movement in the 1870’s. He thought it was essential that the artist painted as quickly as possible, only capturing the most important essence of a scene.^[7] This lack of clarity also made paintings look different when seen up close as opposed to standing back. With the mixture of painterly brush strokes and lack of details, up close Impressionist works often become abstract. Then once the viewer steps back, the whole image appears. These qualities are central to the movement and define the impact it had on art that was to come.

        Also central to the Impressionist movement was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s book “Theory of Colors” that was published in 1810. It provided a scientific approach to color, inspired by the color traditions seen during the Renaissance.^[8] Goethe had many experiments where he formed some conclusions about theories of color. One of his first experiments dealt with viewing various painted images on paper through a prism and observing the colored fringes that would appear along the boundaries.^[9] He would vary the conditions of these studies, altering the shape, size, color, and orientation to see if they had any influence. These experiments had two main stages; Analytic and Synthetic. The Analytic stage comprised of making complex images look simpler.^[10] He would use black and white images with a prism to see that the colored boundaries were parallel to the prisms axis, with warm colors like yellow and red arising when white was below the black, and cooler colors like blue and purple appeared when white was shown above the black.^[11] This phenomena showed the appearance of prismatic color and that complementary colors were generated when two opposite colors were near each other (black and white).^[12] In comparison, the Synthetic stage showed the influence of complex images to simpler ones. Goethe would use squares with different shades of grey against black and white backgrounds, showing their effects on the colored fringes. This demonstrated the intensity of the colors when there was more light at the boundaries.^[13] Another of Goethe’s notable experiments was when he observed the shadow of a pencil that was cast by a lighted candle as well as illuminated by the setting sun, creating a shadow that was bright blue.^[14] These experiments led him to create his own symmetric and complementary color circle. Although his findings weren’t entirely scientifically accepted, they did achieve the goal of seeing how different phenomena are perceived and under what circumstances. ^[15] Goethe’s findings became a source of reference for the Impressionists who valued the phenomena of shadows and his observations on the different circumstances that make certain colors seem brighter.