Impressionism and Post Impressionism

In 1874 a group of artist who were denied to show in the Salon establish their own independent exhibition, of their own work. These artist didn't like doctrines and romantic ideals, so instead they turn to the portrayal of contemporary life. They would take their canvas outside and would paint "impression" of what the eye saw instead of what the mind knows. The down side to drawing like this is all the condition you have to go through. This kind of art would look like the beginning stages of a sketch.

An example of impression is the drawing by Claude Monet.

                                   This  drawing is called "arrival of the normandy train". In the drawing instead of being focus on the human drama with the arrival of the train he choose to focus on the lighting of the area. And it show in the drawing. You can see the people but the eyes doesn't really focus on them like other art works might. He plays with the tones of light. Under the glass roof you can see that its a little darker than the sky, and the reason for that is because of the steam the train would shoot out.

The other style of art being Post Impression. Post Impression is the style of art that came after impression around 1885. This was not one style as it didn't have a style, instead they would work on from the work impression did. Many believed that impression was more sketchy drawing than  solid drawings. Others said it didn't have room for personal expression or spiritual contents. This was time of drawing with personal expression, or with some kind of feeling.

Vincent Van Gogh The Starry night 1889. Oil.

This is a great example of post impression. It shows how it and impression are very different, yet still have the same kind of feel to it. It shows the same kind of style as the drawing "arrival of the normandy train" showed. For one you know that the house are there but your eye will always look at the starry night. Also the tone from light to dark really shows off the beauty of the drawing. The mood I would saw it is a calming place to be. I feel relax looking at the drawing.