Impressionism has made a big change to the way that we look at art in our modern world. While there were several forms that have been around for a number of years, impressionism took some of those ideas and turned them around, making something that is brand new. While the height of impressionism was done years ago, new impressionism is becoming popular too.
New impressionism art has a lot of the same ideas that we fell in love with when it came to impressionism, which can make it very unique. However, it did go in a slightly different direction. To many, the two forms are going to look very similar, but there are a few things that set them apart from one another and can help you see the differences inside each of them.
While many artists are fans of impressionism, there is something to be said about the new impressionism art style that you can use as well. This is a great choice that will help to bring about a lot of unique work and ensures that you are able to see something that has a lot of emotions inside of it.
The Characteristics of New Impressionism Art
When it comes to new impressionism or neo-impressionism, there are a few characteristics that will help it stand out from both impressionism and some of the other forms of art that we can see in our modern times. Some of the characteristics that you will see when looking at new impressionism art include:
Has Two Approaches
When you take a look at new impressionism, you will find that this is a term that has been given to two broadly similar approaches. This will include the divisionism and the pointillism style. You can take a look back in your art history years and probably recognize both of these terms as ones that you studied.
When we look at divisionism, we will see some of the work of Seurat. His idea was to do the work so that there is a division of colors in the painting. Having similar or contrasting colors could really change up the painting quite a bit, and Seurat and others who followed him would use this same kind of idea as well.
The second option is pointillism. This was a form used by Paul Signac. The idea here is to make a painting that was all done in dots. When someone viewed the painting from afar, it looked like a regular painting with brush strokes and everything. But when they came closer to inspect the painting, they could see that it was all done by individual dots.
You will be able to find remnants of both of these in many of the new impressionism paintings that are available. Both can create some great works of art and are a lot of fun to work with when you want to get into an impressionist painting.
Use a Scientific Approach to Painting
One thing that will make the new Impressionism painting style a little different is that the artists would use more of a systematic and scientific approach compared to what was used in the past. Many of the paintings that were done during this time were completed using some of the current scientific and art theories that were around at the time.
For example, George Seurat argued that by placing some primary colors right next to each other on the canvas, the corresponding secondary color would be formed in the retina of the person looking at it. So, if you put a yellow dot and a blue dot next to each other, the viewer would be able to see green in that area of the canvas.
When you look at some of the new impressionism paintings that are available, you will quickly see that some of these approaches are used more than it was in the past. It is especially found when we take a look at some of the pointillism.
Using Primary Colors
Primary colors are a big part of the new impressionism movement. These colors are bright and bold and can really tell a story more than anything else. This is why a lot of these artists liked to use these colors along the way. While there are variations of the movement, some believe that the artist will only use points of primary colors to capture all the colors they want on the canvas.
By mixing the different primary colors together, it is possible to make a beautiful picture that you are sure to love. It takes a bit of skill to do this and some trial and error, but it will look amazing when things are done. This is part of the movement that was seen by the artists who use new impressionism.
Another thing that was done is that all of the dots on the page needed to be uniform in terms of their size relative to the final size of the box the artist was working in. It was also possible that for some paintings, it would continue on through the frame. This helped to give a really unique look to the whole painting and made the dots kind of disappear into the canvas.
Use Emotions and Moods
When you look at all of the scientific stuff that went into this kind of painting, it sometimes felt like a lot of the emotions were taken out of the painting and put away. Since impressionism is full of emotions though, the new impressionism would use this as well. You are supposed to bring in all of the moods and emotions that you can find to really tell a story in the painting.
There are different methods that are used to help elicit these emotions and moods along the way. Using the right colors and specific lines will help to bring more of those emotions out than ever before. This can take some practice, but the right colors will help you get it done.
Many who decided to paint in this style, we’re happy to use it because it allowed them to bring out all of their emotions and look at real life. Whether they were painting from memory or out in the world getting real life, the emotions were easy to find in many of these paintings along the way.
What is New Impressionism Art?
Now that we have had a chance to look at new impressionism and some of the characteristics that come with it, it is time for us to look a little more at some of the specifics of this art movement and why it is so important. What is new impressionism and why did it soar so fast into one of the biggest art moments that we get to enjoy in our modern times?
New impressionism is a style of painting that showed up during the early 20th century. It is very similar to the previous impressionism and you will find that these two styles do share a lot of things in common, such as observing daily life and using light to their advantage. But there are some things that make the styles distinct from one another.
One of the differences in the way that artists of new impressionism would work with color. They would use a more rational and scientific approach to get the work done, using smaller dots of bright color, rather than some of the broad brush strokes that the early impressionists were using at the time. This gave a shimmering and bright effect that you couldn’t find earlier.
Color Theory and New Impressionism Art
When you work with new impressionism, you will notice that there is a lot of emphases placed on color. Picking the right colors would make all the difference in how the final product of the painting would turn out, giving you the results that you need that stand out from the crowd.
During the 19th century, there were many scientists who spent their time working on new discoveries about optics and they were able to develop a science of color. With this new information in hand, the new impressionists were able to make some amazing paintings, unlike anything they had done before.
For example, Chevrolet argued that having two colors that were opposite from one another on the color wheel were so different that they could create a really unique visual effect when you put them together. This started to become some of the basis of what we saw in a lot of the new impressionist paintings.
New Impressionism has worked hard to make its own name in the world of art and culture. It is a little different than some of the other forms that we may be familiar with, but this is part of what helps it stand out so much more than the other options. Take a look at the characteristics above and see why new impressionism is a method that will stick around for years to come.