Describe the development of the impressionist movement from Van Gogh to Kandinsky and Klee.

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Question 2: Describe the development of the impressionist movement from Van Gogh to Kandinsky and Klee.

        If you look at Van Gogh’s work, such as the famous ‘Van Gogh’s Sun Flower’ and look at Kandinsky’s abstract work like ‘Black Strokes’, you will not imagine that these two works of the two artists do actually have connections. This essay will explain clearly the stages of development from Van Gogh to Kandinsky and Klee. We will first discuss the style of Van Gogh’s art and how the inspired the next generation and how the next generation then influenced the next next generation.

        Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) was called a ‘Post-Impressionist’ even though he was in the same generation as the Impressionists. He was painting as the same time with the Impressionists but his works were completely new styles. He believed that that Impressionism did not provide with enough freedom to express his emotions. Since this was his main concern, he is later called an ‘Expressionist’. The purpose of Van Gogh was to paint about how you feel, not what the eyes see, in another word, to paint to express his emotions. Let us have a look at some of Van Gogh’s work to see how he expresses his emotions in his paintings.

Figure 1 Wheat Field and Cypress Tree by Van Gogh

        

        In “Wheat Field and Cypress Tree” (Figure 1), everything is distorted. Everything looks like it has powerful movement in them. The wheat field is like a stormy sea. The trees look like the flame of candlelight burning wildly. The hills and cloud all have movements of strong waves. Altogether, it makes the picture looks very expressive but it is not only the form that makes it expressive but also the colours that express the content of his picture. “Yellow, for example, meant faith or triumph or love to Van Gogh, while carmine was a spiritual colour and cobalt was divine one. Red and green, on the other hand, stood for the terrible human passions”1. In my opinion, this painting reflects Van Gogh’s confused or perhaps his angry feelings, according to my knowledge that Van Gogh is a very sad person.

        Nevertheless, there are paintings that Van Gogh expressed brightness and happiness. For example, ‘Sun Flower’, ‘The Room’, ‘Café’ Terrace at night’ and ‘Sower with setting sun’.

  Figure 2 Sun Flower by Van Gogh                                              Figure 3 The Room by Van Gogh

        ‘Sun Flower’ (Figure 2) shows a bright, happy-looking flower which is the most expensive of today’s art. Because of the bright colour of the flower, it makes the flower look lively. We can sense the feeling of the joyfulness, blissfulness and the beauty of the happy emotion. I think it is because of this happy expression of Van Gogh in the ‘Sun Flower’ that makes many people today would like to have this painting in their house. This painting expresses happiness whenever you look at it. Van Gogh again uses the bright colours to paint his bedroom is Arles (Figure 3), South of France. He made this very simple because he painted this with mainly primary colours. The room looks very cheerful and very cartoon-like. It shows that he was in a bright mood when he painted it and it also shows that he likes his room in Arles.

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                                             Figure 4 Café’ Terrace at night by Van Gogh

Figure 5 Sower with Setting Sun by Van Gogh

        Both ‘Café’ Terrace at Night’ and ‘Sower with Setting Sun’ were painted when Gauguin was living with him which was a happy period of his life. In ‘Café’ Terrace at Night’ (Figure 4), he went out to paint at night which we can say that he was the first to paint at the night time outdoor. The lights from the café ...

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