In today’s class we discussed Fauvism and Symbolism. Symbolism is portratyed in artists artwork as to how they feel and their emotions. Fauvism which was dervied from Post-Impressionism, brought bright colors from the post-impressionist time. A work that stood out to me was The Scream by Edvard Munch. He incorporated very strong and bright colors and followed lines and contours like how Van Gogh did in some of his most popular pieces. With the bright colors and the emotion of the man this painting was made to capture the nature of a scream during an eruption of a volcano. The cause for the sunset was due to the 6 months of overcast because of the smoke. An artwork by Matisse called The Joy of Life represents Fauvism. For example, the bright colors that are used arbitrarily and the unique color scheme of the scene allows the viewers to view the painting as joyful and pleasant.

In class yesterday, we continued to study the different Avant-Garde movements of the 20th century. We began by returning to Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, a radical work that can be viewed as a precursor to the Cubist movement. Cubism can be seen as divided into two phases, first, analytic cubism, and the later synthetic cubism. Analytic cubism focuses on reducing elements of art, including color, depth, light, shadow, brushwork, line, and, perhaps most crucially, form. The recurring theme across different avant-garde movements is the artist’s intent to shock viewers, which can especially be seen in the case of Futurism. We then moved through some examples of Dada art, finally ending with Surrealism. We considered The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí. Surrealists were fascinated with representing what they saw as the unconscious or repressed feelings. In Dalí’s work, the melting or soft watches serve as an indicator of the distortion of time associated with the dream space of the unconscious. We also see the inclusion of ants in the painting, which was a recurring motif in Dalí’s paintings.

Today we discussed Symbolism. We began by briefly discussing the Manifesto which was comprised of a group of artists getting together. We used the term Le Figaro Litteraire. We then looked at Gustave Moreav’s, The Apparition. Gustave was a symbolist paper and used the theme of the figure Salome in this work. We see the head of St. John the Baptist radiating off-center in the work. This is depicted by a bright area, and the head is dripping blood. It is clear some sort of exchange is happening.

We then shifted to Eduard Munch, The Scream. We see that symbolism presents a large range of works. In this work, in particular, fear and anxiety are accurately conveyed. These are very intense and strong emotions. We dove into the context of this work and noticed the background has to do with the Indonesian Island Krakatoa. Which was a volcano that erupted and caused two-thirds of the island to collapse. The sound traveled 1500 miles, and sunsets were covered for 6 months. Munch states, “I sense a great infinitive scream pass through nature.” We then looked at Henri Matisse’s Femme Au Chapeau or Woman With a Hat. In this work we see very bright colors and the impact of Van Gogh at play. 1901-03 was also the retrospective exhibition in Paris. It was an artworld that influenced many young artists.

We then talked about German Expressionism and Ernst Ludwig’s Kirchner, Street, Dresden. This is not realistic as it is more naturalistic. It makes you uncomfortable and the sexual tension is explored. It is also a very imbalanced composition. There is a lot of unused space in the bottom left, but the rest of the work is very chaotic. There are also very vibrant colors used, which reminds me of Van Gogh’s Night Cafe.

We concluded our discussion by introducing Cubism and Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Auignon. This work is very abstract, like some of Cezanne’s work. The color scheme is very similar, and reduction is used. The work is primitive art and nonmodern or Western culture. We also see African masks covering the individual’s faces and they almost appear cut out.

Today we finished up our discussion of prominent pre-WW1 artistic movements and began to tackle the heavy hitters after WW1.

We started with the Young Ladies of Avignon, going into more detail about the layers of abstraction present in the painting. Professor Plesch noted that the painting itself was a revolutionary step away from the mimetic nature of art that defined the Western canon since the early Renaissance, which I thought was pretty interesting because the painting itself doesn’t feel very special, at least to me.

After that, we touched on the second important movement in which Picasso was involved — Cubism. Cubism existed in two forms, analytic and synthetic. The former refers to the philosophical exploration and artistic experimentation of space and form, while the latter refers to the composition of representational objects through simple geometric shapes viewed from various angles.

We then discussed Dadaism across Europe and America. Dadaism began in earnest with Hugo Ball, a German poet whose poems were intentionally nonsensical and ridiculous to highlight those same qualities in modern society. Interestingly, I had to perform a poem of his for my German class a few weeks back, and I had a great time! Dadaism, though universally thought-provoking and abstract, employed varying degrees of political commentary. Duchamp’s New York Dada was concerned primarily with questions of aesthetics and art broadly, as we saw with his, Fountain. German Dada, however, is fervently political and criticizes the vacuity of the post-war German state through assemblages and collages (dubbed photomontages to sound more mechanistic and manufactured).

We closed by briefly surveying Surrealism, a movement that owes its existence to the theories of Sigmund Freud. Inspired by the Austrian Psychoanalyst, Surrealists plumbed the annals of their unconscious minds through automatic artistic practices to pull imperialistic, believable, dream scapes.

In continuing post-impressionism, we learned about the life of Gauguin. He was a wealthy and successful collector of art. In the middle of his life, he left his career and family to pursue art. This path led him to pursue simplicity away from civilization. This was reflected in his art where he strayed away from the teachings of art schools. His work The Vision after the Sermon depicted women and a priest having a vision of Jacob wrestling with an angel. It was made flat by the thick outlines. It also represents synthetism in which the work comes from emotion.

Next, we learned about Fauvism and Expressionism. Le Bonjeur de Vive was a good example. The changes in the way color is used is most indicative of this time period. In this work the colors are arbitrary yet impactful. They cover the entire work where even empty space is covered and expressive. The colors convey the feeling of happiness. This style can also invoke negative emotions like uncomfortability like in Street, Dresden. This work utilizes a similar color pallet but does so with an imbalance and uncomfortable style.

We finished up the Post-Impressionist section with the rest of Paul Gauguin’s works Perau Api and The Vision After the Sermon. Gauguin’s canvases transported us to exotic locales and mythical realms, challenging the boundaries of what art could depict. I was taken by Gustave Moreau’s elaborate canvases, such as The Apparition stood in sharp contrast to Edvard Munch’s raw, psychological intensity in The Scream which represented the Symbolist obsession with dread and existential sorrow. Also the background story of the cloudy ash skies from the volcano was a new to me. Both artists utilized their work to investigate the deep depths of the human mind and the secrets of the subconscious. For me, the most intriguing aspect of the lesson was learning about the differences between the two German Expressionist groups, Die Brücke (The Bridge) and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). Die Brücke, established by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, and others, adopted a rough, angular aesthetic that mirrored the harsh reality of modern urban life. In contrast, Der Blaue Reiter, led by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc, developed a more abstract, spiritual style that employed color and shape to express emotion and inner life. Seeing these two contrasting trajectories within Expressionism was eye-opening, highlighting the movement’s complexity and diversity.

In today’s class we talked about early 20th-century art, a period dominated by Fauvism and Expressionism. The Fauvist movement, led by Henri Matisse and other artists, featured a vast use of incredibly bright colors which led to the creation of several very interesting paintings. These artists focused on expression, as Matisse said on his painting Le Bonheur de Vivre, a painting which uses several unusual colors to depict Matisse’s view. We also discussed Expressionism, which was inspired by Post-Impressionists, and used color to express several different meanings and emotions. The work of Wassily Kandinsky is fascinating to see, as his works slowly become more and more abstract.

In today’s class we continued our discussion on the post-impressionist era. One of the most influential artists of the time was Paul Gauguin. He left his family in 1873 and went to the French Caribbean, then all the way to French Polynesia to remove himself from civilizations influences on art. He wanted to go as far as possible away from civilization, so that he could immerse himself in virgin nature. He wants to rid himself of “civilization’s influence,” and what he learns in art school. His art is very pure and simple as a result, with nothing fancy.

One of Gauguin’s works that we examined was his “The Vision after the Sermon,” which was produced in 1888. Brittanie women are shown having a vision after hearing the sermon. The red ground is arbitrary which conveys the intensity of the experience of the women after hearing the service. Another artwork by Gauguin was his “Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going,” which is a massive painting. It is representative of figures you would see in French Polynesia, so these people are free from “civilization’s influence.” The painting shows Gauguin’s own feeling on civilization, and is a clear escape from the bourgeoise in Paris. This artwork is an example of synthetism because Gauguin goes to places and the portrays what he sees and his emotions.

Fauvism and Expressionism were two of the dominant art movements in the early 20th century. Matisse was a leader of the Fauvist movement, which was heavily inspired by Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Eastern and African art because they valued its “primitive” nature which emphasized emotion. Matisse and other Fauvists were interested in using color in abstract ways. Matisse’s Femme au chapeau is pure color with every aspect of the figure and even the background being done in vibrant, abstract blocks of color. Matisse uses a very blotchy, unblended, rough application of paint. The application of colors is very arbitrary, a section is a certain color because the artist chose to put it there. This abundant, over-the-top use of color, is meant to expressive and playful.

Matisse further explores those themes in Le Bonheur de vivre. This painting shows a very traditional subject, a scene of leisure amoung an idyllic landscape. It is Matisse’s style and arbitrary use of color which makes the painting remarkable. The painting is abstract because it does not capture reality, but is clearly expresses emotion. He is trying to create a scene which captures his own joy of life. The pallette feels very warm and inviting, as do the lounging women. The composition of the work contributes to the expression of joy.

For this class, we discussed Fauvism and Expressionism. Heavily inspired by Post-Impressionism came Fauvism. While never an official movement, Fauvist were inspired by the bright colors of Post-Impressionism. Colors were often arbitrary. One example that we looked at in class was Henri Matisse’s Le Bonheur de vivre. The painting depicts a traditional subject matter, however, the impact of the color is what is most important. Matisse used bright empty spaces to energize the painting. It was a personal expression without the feeling of anxiety found in the works of van Gogh and Gauguin. Expressionism, also inspired by Post-Impressionism, saw colors being assigned to different meanings and emotions. Artist created artwork that brought about a feeling of discomfort and encouraged psychological exploration.