Impressionism and Post-Impressionism

Orchard in Spring is a painting done by Albert Sisley in 1881 during the impressionism period. Sisley is easily recognized as one of the pioneers of impressionism and has worked alongside many others such as Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste. Impressionist art consists of scenes from everyday life, Sisley specifically focused on landscapes such as Orchard in Spring pictured above. In this piece, Sisley effortlessly depicts a scene that elicits feelings of tranquility and happiness. The contrast and how it appears to be done using quick motions are what reveal its impressionism origin. There is contrast on the right side where the dark trees lay over the warm blue sky and then again on the left side where the bright leaves of the tree stand out over the light blue sky. Impressionists valued the beauty of the world and Sisley was no different. I would even say this evokes feelings of serenity, especially when noticing the girl on the right side of the painting who appears to be playing with the trees. In addition to that, a mother is walking with her child through this park during what appears to be a ‘safe’ time of day where perhaps the sun would be at its peak. 

Gorges Seurat is an artist who is recognized for his contribution to the post-impressionism period. Not only has he influenced other pioneers of his time such as Van Gogh, he is also credited for devising the painting technique pointillism. Pointillism is displayed in his painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte (1884-1886) which is pictured above. Here you can see how Seurat, like many other post-impressionist, sought to further explore color and contrast. Not only are colors displayed more vividly, lines are sharper which accentuate shape. There is also sharpness to the overall quality of post-impressionist art unlike impressionist art, which appears softer. Seurat uses people throughout the painting to show contrast against the light green grass, another common quality of post-impressionist art.