The main exponents of Post-Impressionism

Art is constantly evolving, techniques change, new styles are merged with more traditional ones and artists are constantly searching for perfection. It was also happening in the past and to understand the changes that have taken place it is enough to take as an example the Post-Impressionist period and the various exponents of that time.

What is Post-Impressionism

We are dealing about a phase in which Impressionism was overcome and the protagonists were different artists who were not part of a cohesive group, but who brought together different painting techniques that gradually developed. Consequently, Post-Impressionism does not allow us to identify a specific style of painting, but it refers to a specific period that brings together various artists who, in the time that followed Impressionism, developed new painting techniques and introduced styles not known until then into their work.

The Post-Impressionist artists started from the typical concepts of Impressionism, but each one elaborated these concepts in his own way, thus obtaining a different outcome.

Reality was no longer represented only according to how it appeared to the artist, a typical characteristic of impressionist painters, but each work was made according to the painter's point of view. Consequently, the works created in this phase and following these concepts were no longer an objective representation of reality, but a subjective one.

The period of Post-Impressionism and its major exponents

The time of Post-Impressionism goes from the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century and among the major exponents of this interval there are Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse- Lautrec, and many others.

The most important works created in Post-Impressionism

As anticipated, during the period of Post-Impressionism reality becomes subjective and no longer objective, so the artist does not bother to reproduce on canvas the reality that surrounds him in a perfect and objective way. Therefore, new styles were born and among the most important ones there is Pointillism, an innovative technique conceived by George Seurat.

While maintaining the basics of Impressionism, each artist developed new techniques and modified his own way of creating according to a personal point of view, so in this phase artists could express themselves freely, following their subjective point of view.

There was no longer an "obligation" to represent only what the eyes saw, but every artist could express himself without limits. In essence, painters included innovative concepts in their paintings. 

In conclusion, we can say that Post-Impressionism, even if it was not a true artistic current, has influenced the painting style of many artists. New terms were born to identify the techniques of the painters, therefore Symbolism, Modernism and the influences of this period also paved the way to Expressionism.

Here are some works realized in Post-Impressionism: 

- "The Sower" - a work created in 1888 by Vincent Van Gogh.

- "Hortense Fiquet" - Paul Cézanne, 1877. 

- "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" - George Seurat, 1886. 

- "The Yellow Christ" - Paul Gauguin, 1889.

- "Card players" - Paul Cézanne, 1890-1895.

Article by: Aurora Caraman