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Postimpressionism: Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) And Georges Seurat (1859-61)

Art Appreciation Essay Assignment #2
Postimpressionism: Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) and Georges Seurat (1859-61)
Postimpressionism, an umbrella term coined by British art critic Roger Fry, refers to innovative group of artist working in France in the late 19th- early 20th centuries. Schooled in Impressionisms, these artists grew dissatisfied with the passive, formless registration of perceptual experience practiced by the Impressionists and took their art into different directions. Although crediting the Impressionists with the use of pure brilliant colors and light, they strove to express emotions rather than optical impressions. As Harvard Arnason notes: “Instead, they sought to discover, or recover, a new and more complete reality, one that would encompass the inner world of mind and spirit as well as the outer world of physical substance and sensation” (Arnason 64).
There are no clearly defined elements of style and subject matter in Post-Impressionism. However, the art critics agree that the emphasis on combination of simplified colors, accent on formal quality and used by the artists techniques achieve a renewed aesthetic sense as well as abstract tendencies in Postimpressionist paintings. Generally, Post-Impressionism is defined as more formal and more emotionally charged comparing to Impressionisms.
My research interests lies in Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) and Georges Seurat (1859-61)
Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), an enigmatic and tragic figure of the art world, achieved astonishing posthumous success. Acknowledged as a great constructor and colorists, one of the most penetrating observers and one of the subtlest minds, he was an isolated, prone to depression man of a sometime violent disposition. On many occasions he used to say: “Life is fearful” and “Nothing is easy” (Johnson 606).
Cézanne exhibited with the Impressionists but refused to identify himself with the movement. He considered Impressionism being “too pretty and superficial,...