Courtauld 3: More Impressionism and Post Impressionism

Édouard Manet (1832-1883)

Banks of the Seine at Argenteuil

1874

Oil paint on canvas

This work is one of Édouard Manet's most vivid experiments in painting outdoors, inspired by the younger Impressionists' approach. It was created during a summer stay with Claude Monet in the town of Argenteuil, outside Paris. Monet's wife, Camille, and son, Jean, posed for the figures. Lining the other side of the river are barges for washing laundry.

The bright colours and swift brushstrokes creating the ripples on the water show Monet's influence. However, Manet maintained his distinctive use of thick oil paint and rich blacks to give weight to the painting.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

Spring, Chatou

Around 1873

Oil paint on canvas

The patch of water glimpsed through the trees on the left is the only feature linking this idyllic scene with Chatou. The small riverside town west of Paris was popular with day-trippers and artists. Pierre-Auguste Renoir' subtle handling of the sunlit meadow is characteristic of how Impressionist painters used colour to convey atmosphere and feeling. Areas of yellow indicate patches of sunlight, alongside the deep green shadows cast by the young trees. The brushwork, loose to the point of abstraction, gives a sense of the tall grasses swaying in the breeze.

Claude Monet (1840-1926)

Vase of Flowers

Begun in 1881

Oil paint on canvas

In the early 1880s, Claude Monet focused on painting ambitious floral still lifes. This lavish bouquet of mallows (a wild flower), however, gave him particular trouble. He set the painting aside, only returning to it 40 years later. His later reworking over long-dried paint is visible in some of the petals and leaves. Monet finally signed and sold the painting around 1920. 

The off-centre placement of the ceramic vase and the unusually high viewpoint create a strange feeling, as if the table and flowers are tilting forward and the forms dissolving.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Peach Trees in Blossom

1889

Oil paint on canvas

Vincent van Gogh captured this view of an open plain outside Arles in early spring 1889. He wrote to his brother that the blossoms and the distant snow-capped mountain reminded him of the cherry trees and Mount Fuji in the Japanese prints he collected and greatly admired. 

Van Gogh had moved to the south of France a year earlier, hoping that the Provençal light and landscape would inspire his art. The scene is rendered with a great variety of brushstrokes, from thick dots of paint for the blossoms to long streaks for the mountains.

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)

Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear

1889

Oil paint on canvas

This famous self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh expresses his artistic power and personal struggles. 

Van Gogh painted it in January 1889, a week after leaving hospital. He had received treatment there after cutting off most of his left ear (shown here as the bandaged right ear because he painted himself in a mirror). This self-mutilation was a desperate act committed a few weeks earlier, following a heated argument with his fellow painter Paul Gauguin. 

Van Gogh's fur cap secures his thick bandage and wards off the winter cold. Created in harsh conditions, this self-portrait demonstrates Van Gogh's determination to continue painting, reinforced by the objects behind him: a canvas on an easel and a Japanese print, an important source of inspiration. Above all, it is Van Gogh's brushwork and powerful handling of colour that declare his renewed ambition as a painter. 

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)

Nevermore

1897

Oil paint on canvas

Paul Gauquin painted Nevermore while living in Tahiti, an island in the southern Pacific colonised by France. 

Intended for a white European male audience, this image of a reclining nude belongs to a long artistic tradition. 

To the familiar theme however, Gauguin added a sense of exoticism and of unease. The young woman is not at rest but anxiously aware of the two figures behind her, who may be evil spirits. 

For modern viewers, her youth is the most disconcerting aspect. She is sometimes identified as Paul Gauguin's 15-year-old companion Pahura.

Claude Monet (1840-1926)

Antibes

1888

Oil paint on canvas

In early 1888, Claude Monet travelled to the south of France where he spent several months capturing the intense colours and atmosphere of the Mediterranean. This setting was so different from the northern landscapes he knew best that he feared it would take 'a palette of diamonds and jewels' to do it justice. Monet used sparkling colours to convey the southern light, contrasting oranges and pinks with the strong greens and blues of the wind-blown pine tree and the sea beyond.

Courtauld Insight

'Antibes was the centrepiece of a recent exhibition | co-curated to encourage mindfulness and reflection in the art gallery. Monet's depiction of light in this work gives a sense of stillness and escapism to the landscape, allowing you to be present and to get truly lost in the painting. We wanted to share this experience with audiences in Hull'

Esme Miller, co-curator of 'Monet in Mind' and Future Ferns member, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull (a Courtauld National Partner)