Mastering Impressionism and Cubism: Monet, Renoir, Degas, and Picasso

Impressionism

Impressionism was a term used by the satirical weekly Le Charivari by Louis Leroy to comment on a Monet landscape that showed the birth of the sun, and this is critical. Actually, Monet, Renoir, and Degas tried to catch nature at its tables, as they worked. The method they saw was to defend painting outdoors and not be stuck in a workshop to see the changes that the same object suffers in the light of dawn, noon, and sunset. They went to the woods on the banks of the Seine, streets, and cafes of Paris to capture images. The model would be the landscape with the glare of the sun reflected on water, leaves, or skin. They were interested in changes and progress, such as ships and steam train stations with smoke enveloped by locomotives. They were also interested in modern life. Its subject is outside the official box. They flee from the history of the black shadows used by the academic and the technique that is criticized. The feature was fragmented, loose, and spontaneous brushwork, often applied to the tube, getting a vibration that closely resembled the picture that was not finished. Leroy was critical and said that they were licking and accused them of not knowing how to paint.

Monet, Renoir, and Degas

Monet

The landscape of the group remained loyal to Impressionism. He wanted the impossible to paint, traveling the fjords to reproduce the cold breath of the snow. One ambition was, therefore, serialism (reproductions of the same theme, checking the changing effects of light, color, and different seasons). His most well-known series are The Front of the Cathedral of Rouen and Water Lilies, 12 paintings on water where forms are dissolved into puddles of color.

Renoir

Portrait, human figure. He was interested in portraits, several times a collective portrait. Monet also worked on Moulin de la Galette. He worked as the wife of George Charpentier, which catapulted him to success. He then went into crisis and recovered his line on the umbrellas, returning to teaching drawing and museums. He then started reproducing "female nudes; simple themes are timeless."

Degas

Cubism and Picasso

Cubism breaks the image into a polyhedral structure, reflecting different points of view. Cubism reduces the figure, the object, and the landscape into cubes. It is a remarkable phenomenon, representing a break with traditional plastic conventions, minted in the Italian Quattrocento. This aesthetic revolution was undertaken by Picasso, whose genius is only comparable in the twentieth century with the realities on the ground of thought by Freud, founder of the psychoanalytic school, or by Einstein in the field of science.

Picasso

His father was a professor of drawing at the School of Arts and Crafts in Malaga, where he was formed with painting during childhood and early adulthood. Between 1901 and 1904, he illuminated the Blue Period, which is a reaction against Impressionism and expresses a squalid, unhappy, and suffering humanity in its tragic existential condition. He abandons melancholy and clears his palette, starting the Rose Period, giving life to characters from traveling circuses and small theaters. In contrast to Picasso's pink lyricism and compositional harmony, and with the work of Cézanne, he devotes an exhibition hall in the autumn and the Museum of African Masks. The first Cubist work was Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (five prostitutes pose naked in an exhibitionist manner for the client, and the bodies are decomposed into geometric blocks). Disillusioned by criticism, Picasso put the table away in the workshop. Picasso continues to experiment within Cubism, remaining at a level of the avant-garde. During this period, two phases are noted:

• Analytical Cubism (focusing on the landscape and human figure, the work-related method remains the same, breaking the form and then assembling them, this way he abstracts from reality and leaves the discovery of collage works: Ambroise Vollard and Daniel Kahnweiler).
• Synthetic Cubism incorporates real objects into the work, such as newspaper clippings, a score and numbers, and a restaurant menu. At this stage, he does still lifes like Still Life with Chair Caning (where a twisted piece of rubber is a chair).

Finally, he returned to human presence and decoration. He made two versions of The Three Musicians and The Pan Flute. He became a living legend, and it is the most outstanding Cubist phase.